Smooth Sailing on the River Styx
by Zyxriva
Summary: Sick of Rhyhorn Racing, Serena sets out on a pokemon adventure with her Fennekin. Roughly follows the anime, but with Gameverse!Serena. Serena-centric. Will eventually contain shipping. 8/13 UPDATE: Site issues appear to have been resolved, updates will continue as per usual from now on.
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, a girl needs a change in life. Serena realized this one early summer morning, as her mother's fletchling dragged her out of bed. It was 4:15, and today, like every other day, she had "overslept." From the moment Serena could walk, her mother had dreamed of her daughter becoming a Ryhorn Racer. So, for as long as she could remember, at the crack of dawn she had been ripped from her (warm, soft) bedding, and forced onto the (cold, hard) back of Ronald, the family rhyhorn, in order to practice. This particular morning, however, things were a little different. For starters, she hadn't walked down the stairs. Instead, she had lost her footing and tumbled all the way to the bottom.

Now substantially more awake, she noticed another oddity: a pile of letters right beneath her nose. The postman must have come by late yesterday (or maybe early today?) Atop the loose pile, a flier caught her eye. It was a bright, gaudy pamphlet with a cheesy slogan written in comic sans:

"Join the Adventure Today!"

Underneath the text, there was a picture of a little girl snuggling this adorable Chespin, smile a mile wide. Turning over the pamphlet, Serena began to read. "Adventure! Friendship! Submit your application for a trainer card today! Available at any town centre! Somerestrictionsmayapply."

Pamphlet clenched tightly in hand, she pushed herself off the floor and made her way into the kitchen. "Hey mom! Have you seen this before?"

Her mother sat at the table, two cups of coffee in front of her. Smiling at her daughter, she slid one of the cups towards her. "Seen what?"

"This!" Serena confidently held out the brochure.

Her mother's smile fell instantly. "Pokemon Training? What about your racing, young lady?"

Serena took a deep breath. "Mom, you know how I feel about that! I'm no good at it. I want to try something else for a change."

"Rena, everybody has a hard time at fir-"

"It's hardly 'at first' for me! I've been doing this since I was four!" The girl calmed herself. "What I mean is, I'd like a change. Maybe a break will help me with racing."

The mother sighed, "Okay."

Her daughter grinned ear to ear. "Really? Thanks Mom!" Then, she proceeded to hug the woman so enthusiastically, she almost knocked her out of the chair.

"Hey! Calm down!" The woman half yelled, scrabbling for a purchase on her chair. After regaining a little bit of balance, she asked, "So, when are you going to apply?"

"As soon as the office opens! I want to get going right away."

The older woman choked on her drink. "You want to leave today?!"

"That... might actually be a little too soon." Serena chuckled nervously. "I mean, I'm not even packed..."

"You could always spend the night after getting your pokemon." Her mother finished the coffee. "Or even longer, if you wanted..."

The girl stroked her chin. "Yeah, that's a pretty good idea." Perching on a chair across from her mother, Serena grabbed the extra cup of coffee and chugged it down. "Although, I'll only stay the night. Adventure beckons, after all!"

"I hope you know that's going to be the last real cup of coffee you'll have for ages."

Her daughter waved her hand dismissively, "There are cafes all over. I'm sure one of them serves something edible."

Sighing, her mother hopped down from her pub chair and headed out of the room. Serena cocked her head, "Mom? What are you doing?"

The older woman didn't reply. Instead, she reemerged a few moments later with an armful of pokemon books. Practically heaving with effort, her mother dumped the stack on the table. Grinning at the girl, she finally answered; "If you're leaving so soon, you're going to need to know everything you can."

Serena gazed at the mountain of books in front of her. Giggling nervously, she asked; "Can't a girl get some sleep first?"

"No." Her mother headed toward the fridge. "The PMV opens at 9 sharp. You've got a good four hours for studying."

"But what about packing?!" The trainer-to-be protested.

"I'll handle that. And breakfast."

"But-"

"No but's! You need more than clothing to train pokemon, little miss."

Serena lightly smacked her forehead against the table. If her mother forgot her lucky plush-o-saur...

She intently studied the books in front of her, not sure where to start. Upon closer inspection, the "mountain" was just six books with sizes ranging from "children's book" to "Les Miserables." Reaching out, she grabbed a book from the range's peak, and began to read.

It was already a quarter to 9 by the time she left home. She'd already finished two of the books, and had grabbed a third to read while she waited. Serena couldn't run fast enough. Surely leaving so late was a mistake! If she took much longer, she didn't there would be any pokemon left!

As it turned out, her timing was spot on. The doors had only just opened by the time she barged in through the front entrance. Immediately, she came to a screeching halt . At least twenty other people were already in line, apathetically regarding her graceless approach. Evidently, no timing was good timing at the PMV.

She'd had a lot of pokemon-loving friends in the past complain about this place, but she hadn't thought it could possibly be that bad. They weren't even exaggerating. Times like this made her think back to the kids she'd met at that summer camp in Kanto. She was willing to bet they didn't have to deal with anything like this to get their first pokemon.

It felt like a lifetime had passed when finally she reached the counter and had her photo taken. While she couldn't say she was surprised, she was a little disappointed in how dull and grey her image looked in her pokedex. A receptionist handed her an armful of paperwork, and directed Serena down a long, sterile hallway. Resigned to her fate of being eternally confined in the doldrums, she obeyed without saying a word.

But then, at the end of the tunnel, there was a shining light. Hope blossomed in Serena's heart, and her spirit returned as the spring in her step. The final room seemed so vivid and bright in comparison, like a majestic tapestry hanging from ruins. Pushing the door open, serenity washed over her. The room was peaceful, and homely. There were cushions and couches, a beartic rug, and pooling drapes over the windows.

"Can I help you, Miss...?" A gentle voice called from her left.

She turned to face the man. "I'm Serena. I'm here for my first pokemon?"

"May I have your paperwork?"

Nodding, she handed it his way. "You're 16?" He asked.

Serena felt her face flush. "Yeah, I know, I'm a little old for-"

"Nonsense." He replied, eyes trained on her paperwork. "Not fifteen minutes ago, we gave a boy older than you his first pokemon!" Chuckling, he continued. "You look a little younger, that's all. Okay, everything looks to be in order. Let me get the starters."

The man walked over to a tall podium against the wall and started typing on something. A moment later, there was a sort of fizzling sound. When the lab tech turned around, he had three pokeballs in his hands. He smiled awkwardly. "Fresh from headquarters. We're not supposed to keep them here."

One by one, he released his pokemon from their confinement. They were the standard-fare starters for the region: Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie. Before she arrived, she had no idea which starter she was going to pick. But the moment she laid eyes on him, she knew which one she wanted.

"I'd like the Fennekin."

The little fox pokemon trilled happily, hopping to its feet and charging Serena. Within moments, it had buried itself in her arms, nuzzling against her chest. It was a little hard to explain, but she felt nothing but pride signing the adoption papers.

Fennekin, or Fen, as she had decided to call him, didn't leave her arms as they walked home. The entire time, he gazed up at her with adoring eyes. She scratched his ears, eliciting another trill. "You're a cutie, you know that?" More trilling. She smiled faintly. "Tomorrow's a big day, we're going to need to rest up."

For once, Serena slept in. When she rolled out of bed, it was coming up on noon. Hurriedly, she threw on the first outfit she could find, grabbed Fen's pokeball, and charged down the stairs.

Her mother was outside the front door, giving Ronald his breakfast. Serena's rucksack was next to her.

Grace picked up the bag and handed it to her daughter."I packed a lunch for you."

The girl dipped her head. "Thanks mom!" She hugged the woman. "I'll miss you!"

"Stay safe!" Her mother called after her as she took off. "Call me when you get to Santalune!"

"I will! Bye, Mom! Bye, Ronald!"

With that, she started on her pokemon journey.

It was a wonderful day for a walk. Serena had spent the last couple of hours shopping in Aquacorde town, and was now taking time to appreciate the Avance Trail before. Still, she felt the need to keep a keen eye out. Pokemon could be anywhere. Admittedly, she hadn't seen any yet, but they were close! She could sense it!

As if on cue, the grass next to her began to shake frantically. Reaching to her side, she released Fen. Suddenly, a massive druddigon burst out!

Snatching her fenniken off of the ground, she bolted. A large forest loomed ahead. With any luck, it wouldn't follow them in there. Fen looked over her shoulder, and instantly went rigid, his eyes huge. Whimpering, he buried his face into her shoulders.

Serena glanced over her shoulder, and nearly had a heart attack: it was gaining on her. She swore she could feel it breathing down her neck as she dashed into the woods. Eyes feral, she darted between the trees, desperately looking for an out. Then, she saw her chance: a rock wall. If she could make it...

The ground beneath her seemed like it was shaking. In fact, it was, a fact she discovered as the druddigon burst from under her and sent her catapulting through the air. Clutching Fen close, she tried her best to protect him as the pair crashed into the ground a dozen feet away. Grounded, with some undoubtedly nasty scrapes all over, she realized that fighting was her only chance.

She looked to Fen, eyes pleading. Trembling, he leapt in front of the approaching dragon-type, lips drawn back in a snarl.

"Bite him, Fen!" The fox surged forwards, tearing into the beast's outstretched hand. With a light swat, the druddigon flung him across the clearing, continuing his approach.

Scrabbling back, Serena called another attack. "Try ember!"

Fen landed neatly on his feet, and charged the enemy once more. Jumping into the air, he rained fire from above. The dragon was unfazed.

"Again! Don't give up!" She called, voice hoarse.

Charging under the monster's legs, the fennekin unleashed another ember attack. Flames licked around the druddigon's snout, charring its flesh.

Hissing, its head snapped back. Glowering down at the scrap of fur, it raised its hand to swipe at him.

"Fen! Dodge it!" Serena half shrieked. But it was too late. With a lightning-fast strike, the beast smashed Fen into a tree. She stifled a scream as she watched Fen fall to the ground, struggling for breath.

Ignoring the pain, the girl scrambled to her feet, limping to her pokemon's side. Crouching beside her friend, she realized the full extent of his injuries. His fur was soaked with blood, and although she wanted to believe otherwise, every drop was his.

Gazing up at her, he whimpered. If she could, she would have taken him into her arms and held him close. But she'd seen a lot of people like this at her mother's races. It was best not to move them. Gently, she placed a hand on his paw. "It's okay, Fen. You did your best."

The druddigon was steps away now, watching them closely. Serena could do nothing but pray for a miracle. Maybe her mother packed pepper spray? That probably wouldn't work on a pokemon, though. Short of a handgun, she didn't think anything could hurt this bastard... but did it have to? Couldn't she distract it? Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out the first thing she could find: a small, paper bag. It didn't look familiar to her, but curiosity was for people who didn't have a large, angry predator less than ten feet away from them. With a mighty throw, the bag sailed right over druddigon's head.

The dragon spun around to check out whatever it was she had sacrificed to escape, and she seized her only opportunity for escape. Unable to think of anything else to do, she recalled Fen, and slipped away.

Everything in the woods was a threat to her without Fen. She knew the potions in her bag would help, if only a little, but he needed rest. There were lodges scattered throughout the forest, but those were on the main route. Being completely honest, she had no idea where those were anymore. If only her map saw the trees instead of the forest.

Checking her pokedex, she noticed it was less than an hour until sunset. Being very short on good options, Serena decided to press forwards. Using the pokedex compass, she began to head north. As she walked, the forest grew darker. There was no way she'd find her way out before nightfall. All she could do was set up camp, and hope for the best.

Grabbing a few choice branches, she started the biggest bonfire she could muster. Then, she cracked open her first-aid kit, and called out Fen. He had passed out, but it looked like the bleeding had stopped. Picking up a potion, she liberally applied it to his wounds, and covered him with a spare jacket. It was a given she wouldn't be sleeping.

Unable to sleep, the girl allowed her mind to wander. It wasn't the first time she'd been lost in the woods. As a child, she'd been sent to a summer school in Kanto. During their nature hike, she and a young boy were separated from the group. She'd been terrified then as well, but he'd taken her hand and said to her; "The only time we can be brave is when we're afraid." He kept a firm grip on her right up until the camp counselor found them. For an embarrassingly long time after that, she'd had a crush on him. The other children had teased her for it, and she spent the rest of the camp running away from him. Looking back, it had been moronic. She couldn't even remember his name anymore. Sometimes, she wondered if he was the reason she had a thing for black hair...

By some miracle, nothing found them that night. When dawn finally broke, Serena scooped up her fennekin, and headed north. He woke up shortly after, and the girl had to wonder if he was hungry. Searching her bag for food yielded disappointing results: a package of chewing gum. The fox sniffed the box, and pouted. Apparently, his disappointment was short-lived, because a moment later he was thrashing wildly, clawing his way out of Serena's arms. Landing on the ground, he darted forwards, barking excitedly. In a marvel of nature the girl could barely believe, the fox launched himself up a stubby tree, claws lightly skimming over its bark.

As he weaved through the branches, Serena lost sight of her charge. Concern was beginning to gnaw at her, until his head poked out of the leaves above her, a half-dozen berries clenched in his jaws. Leaping down from his perch, Fen dumped his cache at her feet.

She crouched down and scratched his ears. "Good boy." Glancing at the mangled fruit, she added. "You keep them. I'm not hungry."

Fen nodded, and began to wolf down the fruit in front of him, tail wagging.

Serena could still hear rustling above her; there must have been other pokemon foraging up there. Since her pokemon was feeling better, maybe they could catch one...

"Hey Fen," She whispered.

He glanced up at her, ears perked.

"Wanna fight?"

Yipping, he thrashed his tail side to side. Hoping that was a "yes," she snatched one of his berries, and pitched it into the branches overhead.

A couple thuds and a yelp later, this zigzagoon tumbled out of the canopy. Bristling, it leapt to its paws and charged Serena. "Fen! Ember, now!"

White-hot flames erupted from the fox's jaws, dousing his foe in a fiery inferno. The zigzagoon dropped to the ground and rolled, kicking up a storm of dust. Concealed in the smoke, it tackled Fen from behind. It wasn't enough to faze her pokemon, who buried his fangs into the racoon's tail and tossed it a couple feet away.

Snatching a pokeball from her pocket, Serena threw it at her weakened foe. Zigzagoon was swallowed in a red light, and the ball fell to the ground, rocking gently.

A loud click echoed through the clearing, signifying her first catch. "We did it, Fen!" She half-screeched, soaring across the clearing to embrace her starter. Gently, she picked up her brand-new zigzagoon's pokeball, and called it out.

The racoon huffed, refusing to look at Serena.

"Hey now, don't be like that." She scolded. "Hmm... You know what? I think I'm gonna call you 'Starman,' ok?"

The rodent grumbled.

"What? It's cute!" Crossing her arms, she continued. "I need to get out of the forest. If you help me, I'll buy you all the pokepuffs you can eat."

Squeaking happily, it darted off into the undergrowth. Serena ran after it "Wait! You're going too fast!"

Starman didn't slow down for a minute, nimbly dodging over the rocks and roots scattered between mighty trees. Its trainer, while nowhere near as fast, wasn't too far behind. She didn't know if her latest catch actually knew where it was headed, but she was hopeful.

Intentional or not, eventually, they wound up on a well-worn forest trail. Calling back her pokemon, the young trainer checked her compass, and began to walk north. After last night, she was eager to get to Santalune and get some rest. Or at least, she was, until something caught her eye: a Pikachu, sleeping soundly on a stump.

Reaching for another pokeball, she threw it at full force. To her surprise, it bounced off of him harmlessly. Pikachu sat up, rubbing his eyes, looking quizzically at her discarded pokeball. Then, it suddenly dawned on the creature that she'd just tried to capture him, and he shot out of sight. Running to the stump, she figured out where the mouse had gone: his trainer's tent.

Seconds later, a boy emerged from the tent, clad in naught but his pyjamas. Serena went red, no doubt she looked like a deerling-in-the-headlights to him.

"S-sorry!" She bowed. "I thought he was wild!"

The boy looked at her with bleary eyes. "Huh?"

Her heart skipped a beat. Black hair, sharp eyes... He looked so familiar... It couldn't be _him,_ could it? "Didn't your Pikachu wake you up?" She asked, fighting to keep her voice steady.

He yawned, "Yeah, he does that. It's not usually to let me know there's a pretty girl outside though."

Her cheeks were still a dusty pink. "That's very sweet of you... I'm Serena. And you are?"

"Ash. Nice to meet ya."

"If you don't mind me asking, Ash, have we met before? You seem familiar."

Shrugging, he replied; "Doubt it, I'm from Kanto."

"I've been. I don't suppose you attended any summer camps when you were little?"

"One or two, sure."

Serena perked up. "Pewter Pokemon Ranch?"

His eyes widened. "Yeah! How'd ya know?"

"I was there with you! We were in the same group, remember? We got lost in the woods one time and spent the entire afternoon swapping pokemon stories."

An awkward silence descended upon the clearing. Ash suddenly looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He brought his hand up to his chin, as if he were deep in thought. After an agonizing minute, he spoke:

"I'm sorry." The boy smiled sheepishly, "but I don't remember you."

A/N: One chapter down, the next should be up in a few days. I feel I should mention that for this fic, I will defaultly be referring to pokemon with male pronouns. In my first draft, I referred to pokemon of unknown gender as "it," but I felt it was awkward. Since he/him are the (archaic) default pronouns, I elected to use them. What does this mean? Well, it means I might "change" a pokemon's sex at some point. For instance, Fen is not supposed to have a specified gender. He's (loosely) based off of anime!Serena's Braixen, but I haven't specified whether he's male or female yet, so in three chapters "he" might be a "she." The same goes for any pokemon without visible gender differences.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to message me or drop a review. Hope to see you next time!


	2. Chapter 2

It was predictable, but Serena couldn't help feel a little disappointed. She smiled weakly. "It's fine. That was a long time ago."

Ash scratched the back of his head. "Still, talk about awkward! I mean, are we s'possed to catch up over breakfast, or are you just gonna walk off?"

The girl fiddled with the hem of her dress. "I don't have any food..."

His jaw dropped. "What'cha doing out here without anythin' to eat?" Grabbing her hand, he led her over to the trump. "Wait here. I'll be back in a mo."

Not looking back, Ash trotted back into his tent. Serena internally debated whether she should stay or not. On one hand, she was pretty hungry. However, on the other, she knew nothing about this kid, aside from his name, and that once, a long time ago, he had been kind to her. For all she knew, he could have grown up into a utter cretin.

The thought of food, however, was quite tantalizing. Just in case, she released Fen from his pokeball. Almost immediately, the fox curled up on her lap.

Ash reemerged from his tent a couple minutes later, properly dressed this time, with Pikachu perched upon his shoulder. Suddenly, his head shot up, "Wow, what's that?!" He asked, almost star-struck.

The girl frowned, a little confused. "What's what? My Fennekin?"

"That pokemon! I've never seen one like it! It's awesome!" Digging his hand into a pocket, he pulled out a red, well-worn rectangle, and pointed it at Fen.

A blue light shone from the top corner, and a mechanical voice began to speak. "Fennekin: the Fox pokemon. As it walks, it munches on a twig in place of a snack. It intimidates opponents by puffing hot air out of its ears."

The boy's eyes were practically sparkling, and he was getting uncomfortably close to Serena, "Can I battle him? Please?"

Opening one eye, Fen glowered at Ash. When the male refused to back off, the pokemon stood on Serena's lap, and shot steam out of his ears.

The boy leapt back, laughing. "I've never seen a pokemon do that before! He's so cute!"

The fox scoffed, and sent himself back inside his pokeball.

"Oh yeah! I was going to make ya breakfast. Gimme a sec." Once more, Ash returned to his tent. This time, he dragged out a few boxes with him. "There should be something in here to suit'cha."

Serena couldn't help but feel a little relieved that he had some actual cooking equipment with him. When he first offered to cook her something, she'd been worried that he might just be carting around sandwich ingredients and cup noodles. "Do you need any help?" The girl queried, watching Ash set up a portable flame.

"I've got this." He called back. "There's a oran tree across the road. Would you mind bringing me some?"

"Sure thing!" Cheerily, the young trainer skipped over the the base of the tree. Since Fen would mangle any berry he grabbed, Serena elected to do the climbing herself. She had been an adept climber as a child, and hopefully, remained one as an adult. Unlike the tree her pokemon had climbed, this one was spindly, with rough bark and razor sharp leaves. Luckily, the trunk could take her weight, and within a minute, she was snatching the berries straight off the branches. Pocketing her bounty, she descended in one graceful leap, landing perfectly on her feet.

It hurt a little more than she expected, but she kept her balance and hobbled back to Ash. While it was hardly the most impressive breakfast she'd ever seen (After all, Serena _was_ Kalosian), he was doing fantastically for a cook-out.

"I've brought you the berries."

"Put 'em in the porridge, would ya?" He was busy frying eggs and bacon over a small campfire.

Serena looked at the massive vat of oatmeal sitting on the stove. "That's quite a lot for two people." She remarked, chucking the fruit in to stew.

"Huh?" A look of realization dawned on his face. "Oh, right! I'm travellin' with some friends of mine. I don't know if they're gonna be back for breakfast, but I thought, 'better safe than sorry.'"

"Friends?" She asked, hoping he didn't notice her voice's rise in pitch.

"Yeah, Bonnie and Clemont. But Bonnie ran off, so Clemont went after her."

"I see." She forced a smile, casually placing a hand on a pokeball.

"Bonnie's super energetic like that. Sometimes, she makes me happy to be an only child."

"Eh? Are they siblings?"

The boy nodded. "Their dad isn't around much, and Bonnie's a bit young to be on her own, so Clemont brought her with us."

Serena let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay." Glancing to the right, she noticed that the oatmeal was ready. "Hey Ash, this porridge looks about done. Do you have any bowls with you?"

"Sure." Reaching into one of the boxes, he asked, "How many pokemon do you have with you?"

"2."

He pulled out two large bowls and 5 substantially smaller ones. "Do you mind serving up? Pikachu's been stirring with the ladle."

Nodding, she took the dishes and set about filling them. The yellow mouse had done a fairly good job making sure the mix didn't catch on the bottom of the pot, something Serena was grateful for. Even a little bit of burn would have made it inedible.

"Oatmeal's served." The girl remarked, calling out Fen and Starman.

"Comin'!" Ash dumped the stuff he was cooking onto a tray and brought it over. "Take whatever you like."

Politely as she could, she took a piece of bacon and started to much on it. "So, what brings you to Kalos?" She enquired.

"'Cause I wanna be a pokemon master." He stated plainly.

"Couldn't you have done that in Kanto, though?"

Ash shrugged. "I could, but I'd have to beat another 8 gyms there to qualify for the league again. "Wait, you've already entered an official league challenge?"

"Yep!" He replied, voice chipper. "I've been in... 6, I think? Yeah, that's about right."

"That's amazing! It sounds like you're doing pretty well."

The boy blushed, rubbing his neck. "Thanks... but it's nothin' special, really. The only one I ever got anywhere with wasn't a real league..."

Serena pouted. "I haven't gotten into any leagues, you know..."

"You will sooner or later. When'd ya start, anyhow?"

"Yesterday."

He snickered. "Well, that explains a lot."

Sticking out her tongue at him, she returned to her porridge. The catch on some of Ash's pokeballs went off, and a Frogadier and a Fletchling hopped over to take their breakfasts.

Serena squinted. They didn't look very powerful... "Did you catch these pokemon recently?"

"Yep. I always start a new team when I'm traveling. 'Cept for Pikachu, of course." He grinned, "It's more fun that way."

Having polished off all the bacon, Fen curled up on Serena's lap and went to sleep. "Pikachu must be really tough, then."

"Usually. He got pretty roughed up in the Unova league though, so I'm givin' him a break. I'm sure he wouldn't mind a practice fight, though."

"Why Ash, are you challenging me to a pokemon battle?" She asked, placing her hand on her heart.

The boy grinned. "I'll go easy on ya, I promise!"

Moving Fen to her shoulder, Serena stood. "Right then! Let's fight! Come on, Starman!"

The zigzagoon ignored her, and gestured to his mouth. The girl smacked her hand against her forehead. "You're just going to sit there?"

Yawning, Starman pointed to his mouth again. "Fine, then." The girl huffed, and walked to the other side of the clearing, ignoring the racoon's furious hissing.

"Since Pikachu's done a lot more fighting, we're only battling til the first hit lands, ok?"

She gave him a thumbs-up from across the field. The pokemon leapt into the arena, and the match begun.

Fen gave it his all, successfully dodging a couple of Pikachu's attacks. After a minute or so, the little fox's inexperience caught up with him, and a well-timed quick attack knocked him out of the match.

"Not bad!" Ash called, strolling across the field. Neither he or his Pikachu had broken a sweat. "A little more stamina and you'll be able to give us a run for our money!"

Somehow, she doubted that, glancing over at her completely zonked starter. She was about to respond with a joke, when suddenly, a yellow-pink blur barreled out of the bushes, screaming for Ash.

In the blink of an eye, a little girl had her arms latched tightly around his waist. She was red-faced, sobbing hysterically. "They took him! They took him!"

The boy was shocked, but hugged her anyways, stroking her hair comfortingly. "Calm down, Bonnie. Everything's gonna be okay." Wiping away her tears, he asked, "What happened?"

Her breath kept catching as she spoke. "Th-th-they took C-clemont! And Meeny-mo! You've godda do sommat, Ash!"

He gripped the little girl tightly. "Who did?"

"T-team R-rocket."

He looked over to Serena, "Will you help me?"

The teen nodded solemnly. "I'll do my best."

"Can you take us to them, Bonnie?"

The little girl nodded, wiping away more tears. "T-they were b-by th-the lake."

After calling back all their pokemon, they scrambled down the path as fast as they could, leaving the camp deserted.

"Shouldn't I get the police?" Serena asked, concerned. They were chasing down kidnappers, after all. "Santalune is only a little further down the road."

Ash had a ferocious scowl on his face. "No need. " He muttered darkly.

As they neared the edge of the forest, she older girl had to wonder just how they were going to find these kidnappers. Who knew how much of a lead they had? But then, they broke through the woods, and she saw it.

There was a huge spider-like machine looming over the lake's heart, almost as high as the cliff they were on. Tubes and pipes jutted out from it at all angles, reaching into the water below, pumping black sludge into the formerly-pristine depths. A crowd of civilians had gathered on the other side, watching helplessly.

"What the hell are they doing?!" Serena shouted, "That's a reservoir!"

Twisting his cap backwards, Ash started issuing commands. "Pikachu, overload it with Thunder!"

Using his trainer as a spring-board, Pikachu launched into the air and brought down a mighty bolt of electricity, striking the heart of the spider.

If it had affected the device at all, it hadn't been enough to break anything. The electricity had pulsed violently through the machine, and then dispersed into the water.

Pikachu flattened his ears, obviously disappointed.

"It... didn't do anything." Bonnie whispered, tears welling in her eyes once more.

"Could we knock it over?" Serena asked. "Something that big might shatter under its own weight."

Snatching a ball off of his belt, Ash released his Frogadier into the water. "It's worth a try! Frogadier, use water pulse on that machine!"

The creature glared at him with beady little eyes, and then ducked under the water. His trainer sighed.

"What was _that?_ " The little girl sobbed.

The boy grimaced. "A try." He grabbed the other ball off of his belt. "Come on out, Fletchling!"

Landing neatly atop his cap, the little bird trilled a greeting. "Think you can knock that thing over with razor wing?"

The Fletchling chirped loudly, flaring out his wings.

"Hit the pipes!"

Wings flashing, the young bird slashed through the legs beneath. Unable to support the weight, the remaining pipes crumbled, spraying sludge and water everywhere as the spider tumbled into the lake.

In its aftermath, a massive wave erupted, sweeping up pokemon, people, and goodness-knows-what else. The only thing that spared Ash and his friends was their high ground. Looking down, Serena could see almost everyone had been knocked back quite a ways. Water-dwellers lay miserably on the shore, sickened by the poison.

Even though the machine was broken, sludge kept oozing out. It wasn't the only thing, though. A porthole on the side burst open, and two figures crawled out on top, smothered in black goop.

"Serves you two right! What did you do with Clemont?!" Ash shouted at them.

"Who the hell is Clemont?" One of them croaked, his voice deep and scratchy.

"Huh? You're not James! Who are you people?"

The woman on the right posed dramatically. "A shrieking whine! A blast from the past!"

"Spinning like a Gyro Ball and moving fast!" The man took over.

"To the moon..."

"...And beyond..."

"...What a blast!"

"Administering justice with lightning speed!"

"Bashing the bad guys, should we feel the need."

"So here's a newsflash from across the wire..."

"The real Team Rocket is now on fire!"

"Cassidy!" Shouted the woman.

"And it's Butch!" Her companion finished.

The duo looked over the the group, expecting some kind of reaction. After what seemed like years of silence, someone finally spoke up.

"Oh god, there's more of them?" Bonnie deadpanned.

Serena looked at her oddly, "These weren't the guys who took your brother?"

The little girl shook her head. "Nah, those guys had a meowth balloon."

"Where's Clemont, then?"

The kid pointed down at the road. "Right there."

Craning her neck, Serena could see a young blond man collapsed on his knees in the middle of route 3. She gasped, "I think he's hurt!"

Bonnie didn't seem concerned, though, "Nah, he does that. He'll-"

"If you're going to ruin someone's hard work, at least have the decency to apologize!" Cassidy cut in.

The woman and her partner sprung from their machine the cliff face.

Ash glared at them. "No."

Summoning a hearty dosage of electricity, Pikachu launched an electro-ball at them, sending the duo flying through the sky. Huffing, the electric mouse crossed his paws.

Charging over, Bonnie crushed the little pokemon into her arms, "You did it! You're so brave!"

His cheeks sparked, and she instantly dropped him. "Oops, sorry Pikachu."

"Chaa~" He replied, tilting his head. Then

Serena blinked. "Wow, that seemed... almost rehearsed."

Ash shot her a weary look. "This happens _a lot_."

Fletchling swooped down, perching on his trainer's shoulder. "Hey lil guy." He cooed, calling the bird back into his ball. "Great job today!"

"Can we go get Clemont now?" Bonnie asked.

"Sure thing!" Ash replied cheerfully. "Besides, Frogadier is down there, too."

Hurriedly, the three of them descended the trail to the lake shore. Much of the road around the lake had turned to mush, and incredibly slippery mush at that. Bonnie had slipped, and taken Ash with her. The result looked like Serena's mother at an overpriced spa. Not that she was spared this indignity: the ensuing mud tsunami had saturated her smock with all kinds of unpleasantness. On a dark night, she could easily have been mistaken for a victim of a violent crime.

As they closed in on the epicenter, Serena almost tripped over something buried in the mud. It was filthy, almost unrecognizable, coated in black tar. Allowing the others to run ahead, she dropped to her knees to investigate. To her horror, she realized it was a pokemon.

Struggling to keep on its greasy fur, she rolled it over onto its back.. A clutch of eggs, equally smothered in gunk, were held tightly in the creature's arms. Unwilling to risk rinsing them off in the lake, she scooped up the pokemon, and headed for Santalune as fast as she could.

It was far from at running speed, but Serena was able to clear the trail without slipping again. The moment she touched dry soil, she broke into a sprint. The city was close, there had to be somewhere she could get the sludge off of these guys there!

Even from a distance, it was plain to see how busy the pokemon centre was. But she didn't know where else to go. With no other choice, she pushed open the door, and walked inside.

It was a marill. That was what she realized when she started to rinse the slime off of him. A flustered nurse had essentially thrown soap and water at her the moment she walked in, and told her to wash him off herself. By the time she was finished, the bathwater was pitch black. She had to wonder what on earth it was as she dumped the runoff into the tank the centre had for collection.

Still, the centre had been rushed off of its feet, and Serena felt obligated to help. Quite a few of the pokemon were fighting fit and ready to go right away, but it didn't really matter. The lake was filthy, and nothing could live there safely, no matter how good their condition.

A couple hours later, and the young trainer felt that it was about time for a break. Because of her help, the nurses were willing to let her clean up in one of the staff rooms. She had to admit, it felt great to wash the grime off and change into some fresh clothing.

Releasing both her pokemon from their confinement, the young trainer remembered something: "I said I'd make you pokepuffs, didn't I, Starman?"

The raccoon nodded, a little disgruntled. His trainer laughed, and scratched his ears. "But... everyone's been working so hard... maybe I'll make macarons as well."

Fen hopped up onto the counter, a bag of almond flour in his jaws. Serena smiled at the fox, "Let's get started, shall we?"

Cooking with her pokemon was fun, Serena decided, but stressful. Sure, Fen was able to warm eggs up to room temperature super fast, but he'd accidentally cooked the first dozen or so through. Still, Starman was much worse. If she turned her back on him for a second, he'd eat all the batter he could get his paws on. Eventually, after appointing Fen the official guardian of the macaron-dom, she managed to make some progress.

Ten trays later, she emerged with a virtual mountain of treats for everybody. Her macarons weren't quite right, but people seemed to enjoy them anyways. Ultimately, she wound up recalling Starman. The little guy managed to munch his way through fifteen of them before she had to restrain him for his own safety. Retreating to the staff room, she started to work on more confections. The pokepuffs were, unsurprisingly, going like hotcakes.

When she returned with more, she was amused to find Fen trotting around the lobby, distributing the remaining snacks. Thankfully, things had calmed down quite a lot. According to what she'd heard from the nurses, some inventor from Lumiose had re-purposed the spider into a water purifier, and that environmental support groups had been working non-stop to help the victimized wildlife. It wasn't going to be an overnight fix, but they were hoping in a week or two conditions would be safe enough for pokemon to re-inhabit the lake.

Serena couldn't help but wonder, though: where was Ash? She hadn't seen him since taking that marill to the centre. Maybe he'd already gotten Santalune's badge? Mentally shrugging, she decided to check on the eggs she brought in.

Despite a crack on one of them, Nurse Joy had been adamant that the embryos inside were doing fine. The interesting thing was that they were all different species, but none of them could have been the marill's child. It was a female, but not a single one of "her" eggs contained a marill or azurill.

As for the girl herself, she couldn't keep down any food yet, but the general consensus was that she'd be back to full strength after a few days of rest.

Strolling down the corridor, she returned to the room the nurses had lent her for the night, and turned in. She and her pokemon would need all the strength they could get.

After all, tomorrow, they were going to win their first gym battle.

A/N: I'm planning to update every saturday, but I thought I'd ask: Do you think it's better to have longer updates weekly, or shorter updates a little more often?


	3. Chapter 3

"So, how's Santalune?" The woman asked cordially.

After Serena awoke that morning, she had called her mother on one of the Pokemon centre's video phones. With everything that happened yesterday, she'd forgotten to call her upon arriving. It wasn't something the girl wanted to discuss at length with her mom, at any rate, so to save herself a substantial quantity of grief, she had simply glossed over the details.

The girl sighed, "It's pretty noisy here. I didn't get a lot of sleep."

"You're going to hate Lumiose, then!" Her mother was cackling like a hyena, drawing an irate glare from the girl. "Don't take it so seriously! There are _far_ better things to be doing there than sleeping." Without an ounce of shame, the woman winked at her.

Feeling strangely defiled by that statement, Serena changed the subject. "I've been thinking about it, and I've decided to challenge the elite four."

"That's... a little lofty. Your fathe-"

The girl cut her off. "-Trained for fifteen years before he challenged them. I've heard it a million times." She crossed her arms. "I'm going for it, mom."

"I didn't mean to sound discouraging, I just didn't want you to get your hopes up."

Sighing deeply, she replied. "I know." Glancing at the clock, she added. "I should get to work. Call you soon, love you, bye!"

"I love you too sweetheart, stay safe!"

The words were barely out of the woman's mouth when Serena hung up. Her mother had always been a worrywart, but familiarity with the trait didn't make it any less annoying.

Like the day before it, it was bright and sunny outside. Santalune seemed so much larger when you weren't in a car! There were dozens of restaurants, boutiques, and parks lined up one after the other. People were everywhere: ducking in and out of shops, enjoying picnics at the park, and leaning hard on car horns whenever a pedestrian cut them off.

Serena was walking down the main avenue of the city, towards the gym. The girl wasn't sure what the hours of the place were, or even if it _had_ hours, for that matter. When she'd asked Nurse Joy, the answer she'd gotten was, "Whenever Viola is there." Perhaps it was a sign that today wasn't her day? After all, she'd only had a handful of battles. Maybe she should practice a bit more before trying her luck at a gym?

As it so happened, she realized she was standing in front of her old Pokemon Trainer's School. She had only gone for a few years as a child, but all of a sudden, the girl couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize she was far too old to enroll, but she liked the idea. For a moment, she toyed with the idea of staying here and attending another school for a while. Sighing, she decided against it. She knew very well that she'd hate it.

Still, as the gym loomed ever closer to her, she couldn't help but dream up even more ways of putting it off. Fire-types had weaknesses, right? Whatever Viola trained was almost certainly strong against them. That was a lie, she knew full-well Santalune Gym was bug-typed. Her nerves were getting to her after all.

As she walked past yet another park, she noticed something: Ash was inside, sleeping on a bench. Concerned, she veered off the main road to check on him. After all, didn't he have a tent? And where were his friends?

"Hey Ash!" She called, walking towards him. The boy twitched in his sleep, but didn't wake. There were maybe 3 yards between them, now. "Ash?" He didn't move. Reaching out, she put her hand on his shoulder.

Jumping awake, he turned to face her. This was not Ash. Admittedly, they looked a little similar: they wore identical clothing, and were both good-looking men with black hair. This boy, however, was a bit paler, with grey eyes, and hair that lay flat.

"Who the hell are you?" He cried indignantly.

Serena leapt back, face flushed, "Sorry, I thought you were someone else!" Looking the boy up and down, it was plain to see he hadn't had a good night. "Are you alright?"

Awkwardly, he replied: "I've... been better."

That was an understatement. "Do you need any help?"

For a moment or so, he stared at her blankly. "If you don't mind...?" He seemed uncertain. "Would you buy me something to eat?"

"Why? Did you run out of money?" Serena jested.

"Yes."

"Oh." The girl wasn't quite sure what to say about that. "I guess I can help you out?" At least it would allow her to eat at any one of these adorable cafes without the risk of stigma.

"Really?!" He seemed shocked. "Thanks." Face a little flushed, he added: "I don't suppose you have pokemon food to spare as well?"

Perking up, she asked, "You're a trainer?"

"A bad one, but yes, I am."

"Me too. A trainer, I mean. Not a 'bad one.' I'm not saying I think you are but- urgh!" Smacking her hands over her mouth, she took a moment to collect herself. "Never mind. Do you want to go get something to eat?"

With that, the pair scurried off to find somewhere for lunch. While eating, she learned a few things about him: his name was Calem, he was mixed Kalosian and Johtoan, he had been training pokemon for less than a week, and he could put away three plates of food stacked a foot high in under ten minutes. "I haven't eaten in a couple days." He bashfully explained.

Like Serena, he had come to Santalune to earn his first gym badge. However, upon arriving, he had a run in with some bad luck, his wallet was stolen. Without a penny to his name, and both the pokemon centre and police station bursting at the seams, he found himself with nowhere to stay but one sad and lonely little park bench.

"Officer Jenny is pretty busy, though, so I'm kinda stuck for now." Calem explained, half grimacing, as they walked back down the boulevard.

"Have you tried looking for it yourself?"

It looked like she'd caught him a bit off-guard. "Uh, no? Is that what you're supposed to do?"

Shrugging, she replied. "Probably not, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing. Where were you when you lost it?"

He gave her a somewhat dubious look, "I'd just come from route 22..."

"Let's go then!" Grabbing his wrist, she took off towards the edge of town, effortlessly towing him along.

As she expected, there was no sign of his wallet on the ground. But money wasn't the only thing she was looking for. Since so many trainers came through this way, it may well be the pickpocket's territory. He could be near here, lurking. Serena turned to face him:"Calem, what did he look like?"

"The thief? I don't know." The boy looked down at his feet. "I didn't realize I'd lost my wallet until I tried to buy something."

Well, that poked a hole in her plan. Couldn't he have just dropped it? She looked down the street. At the moment, it was pretty quiet. If she was going to search for something here, now would probably be a good time. Reaching into her pocket, she called out Starman. "Hey lil guy, do you think you can find this guy's wallet?"

He scratched his ear, contentedly ignoring her.

Pickup could be invaluable here. Sighing, she decided bribery was the best course of action. "I'll give you a pokepuff, " she said, cooing.

The little fellow raised both his fore-paws, then squeaked excitedly.

"Your choice, lil guy. 1 pokepuff, or none."

Letting out an adorable growl, he scurried off down the street, the trainers following closely behind.

"What's all this about, anyways?" Calem asked.

"I don't think you were robbed."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How did I lose my wallet then?"

"You... dropped it?" She replied, uncomfortable with the boy's sudden glare.

"No, I didn't."

"I know it's a little clumsy, but it's hardly impossible."

The glare turned incredulous. "I. Didn't. Drop. It."

"How do you know?"

"Because it was in my backpack." He froze. "Wait, I didn't tell you that?"

"No?" She said, confused.

In the blink of an eye, his face had turned ruby red. "Sorry!" Burying his face in his hands, his voice became so muffled she could barely hear his apologetic ramblings, but she could have sworn she heard something along the lines of: "And I've been leering at you for a solid hour, too." The girl chose to ignore it.

Placing her hand on his shoulder, she smiled at him. "It's fine! You've had a pretty rough day."

The boy looked up at her. His face was still fire-hydrant red, but she was reasonably certain he wasn't having a fit anymore. "A-anyways, your zigzagoon's getting away! We should probably stop him."

Starman was far ahead of them, almost at route 22. Muttering under her breath, she charged after him. Calling out to the pokemon, he began to run even faster.

By the time Serena and Calem reached the city limits, the raccoon had long since slipped into the tall grass.

"Starman! Come back!" The girl yelled into the undergrowth. There was no response. She knew that she'd only had him for a day, but she hadn't dreamed he'd run away from her. Dejectedly, she dropped to the ground. Glancing up at the man next to her, she weakly murmured; "I'll wait. He'll come back."

Calem's mouth twisted in an odd sort of way, before forcing itself into a delicate smile. "He will." Taking a seat next to her, he continued, "I'll wait with you." After all, he didn't have anything else to do.

For a while, they sat in silence. It was nice here, all green and quiet. If she really had lost her pokemon, at least he'd be somewhere pleasant. She hoped that it was safe, too.

Then, the tall grass nearby began to shake violently. Cold dread clutched at her chest. She was _not_ dealing with another dragon. In a flash, she was on her feet, charging back into the city. Officer Jenny could deal with this one!

Calem grabbed her wrist, "What are you doing? That could be your pokemon!"

Call her a coward, but she didn't want to stick around and find out what all that rustling was. Still, the boy kept a vice grip on her arm.

When it emerged from the brush, Serena couldn't believe her eyes! It was a veritable conga line of people and pokemon. At the head, there was a litleo, jaws firmly clamped around a picnic basket. A couple of people in white suits desperately trying to catch up, all the while keeping ahead of a now slightly-singed, absolutely furious Starman.

The little raccoon largely ignored the humans, weaving through their legs and charging towards his enemy. Pouncing, he tackled it to the ground, sending the basket soaring through the air.

"Our sandwiches!" The white-clad people cried, shooting past the brawling pokemon.

Leaping back to its feet, the little cat bathed Starman in white-hot flame. Shrieking, he fell to the ground, frantically trying to cool his smoldering fur.

"Starman, return!" Serena called, bringing him back into the safety of his pokeball. She was about to turn and leave when she heard the unmistakable sound of a pokemon being released.

"Go! Froakie!" Calem had challenged the litleo to a battle!

The type advantage, paired with the damage the pokemon had already taken, proved too much for litleo. Before she could blink, froakie finished him off. Calem threw a pokeball, and it was all over.

"Not bad, little guy!" He chuckled, rubbing the frog's head. Looking over to Serena, he smiled. "Now, if we can find my wallet, I think my day will have done a 180!"

Straining her neck, Serena noticed a bright blue pouch lying discarded on the side of the road. "Speaking of, is your wallet blue?"

"Uh, yeah? How'd you know?"

Half-skipping past him, she snatched the sack off the ground and presented it to him. "Is this it?"

Without warning, the boy grinned widely, and pulled her into a uncomfortably cozy hug. "Thanks." Taking a step back, he let her go. "The only question is, how did it get here? I _couldn't_ have dropped it."

Serena rubbed her chin. "I guess the thief could have. Pretty clumsy, though."

"Maybe not..." he muttered, looking into the ditch beside the road.

"What?" Trotting over to him, she saw what he meant. The ravine was practically lined with wallets. Leaning down, she one of the closer ones up and opened it. The contents appeared perfectly intact, down to credit cards and cash. "Hey Calem, did they take anything from your wallet?"

Flipping it open, he checked its contents. "Only my trainer card." His face scrunched up. "Why would anyone want that? It's worthless."

Meanwhile, Serena had picked up a second wallet. Then a third, and a fourth. None of them had trainer's cards. "Maybe it's a prank? I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm going to give these to Jenny."

"Let me help you."

In total, they found 14. Clambering up the slope, Serena couldn't help but glance at the couple in white. They were just so... odd. Currently, they were sitting in the middle of the road, fighting over a jelly sandwich. Being weird wasn't really a reason to suspect someone of theft, but she couldn't really help it. What exactly had they been doing in the tall grass? Cringing, she realized that might not be the best thing to think about.

After turning in the wallets, and explaining things to Officer Jenny, the pair decided to go their separate ways. To Serena, it was a little disappointing, but she knew they both had things they needed to do. For instance, it was high time she attempted her first gym battle.

Standing in front of the gym, the girl took a deep breath. What was the worst that could happen? Her losing the fight? Steeling herself, she pushed open the door.

The arena was pretty weird, if she were honest. Cameras were everywhere, and a good number were trained on her. Most of the "floor" was actually a large pit, maybe five or six feet deep, covered by thick strips of rope. Looking at it as a whole, it was clearly made to resemble spiderwebs.

" _How on earth can a pokemon battle on that?"_ Serena thought to herself.

"It seems I have a challenger." A woman remarked, her voice echoing around the room. "Fantastic! Just fantastic! Is this your first time challenging a Gym?"

Nervously, Serena nodded, only just realizing the woman was standing behind her.

"Fantastic!" The woman beamed, wrapping an arm around the girl. "I'm Viola, the gym leader here! And you are...? "Serena." She replied meekly. "Lovely to meet you, Serena. Are you ready to battle?"

"Y-yes."

"Don't be nervous! Everybody starts somewhere." In a few effortless jumps, the gym leader was on the other side of the net. "Do you know the rules here?"

"Two pokemon each, until one trainer's pokemon are unable to battle, right?"

"More or less. So, shall we start?"

Again, Serena nodded. "Okay, then, let's go!"

Grabbing a pokemon off her belt, she sent Fen out to battle.

"A fire-type, huh? Try this then! Go, Surskit!"

Fen was already having difficulty staying balanced on the net, but another pokemon made it even harder. Luckily, it seemed Surskit wasn't faring much better.

"Fen, dig your claws into the rope!" The fox complied, stabilizing himself a little. "Now, keep using ember!"

Surskit scurried from rope to rope, doing its best to dodge the relentless ember attacks. "If this keeps up, he'll knock you off the ropes." Viola shouted. "Quick attack, now!"

The pond-skater surged forward, dodging a couple more fireballs.

"Fen, counter with scratch!" Timing it just right, the fox sent his opponent flying back.

Surskit landed neatly, spreading its legs across one of the holes. "Again!" The gym leader shouted.

"Jump!" Fen sprung into the air, completely dodging the attack. "Now, pin him down!" Twisting in midair, the fire-type dropped on top of Surskit, snatching the bug up in his jaws.

"Finish it with ember!" Serena called.

Viola's pokemon struggled, but it was all over. The force was so intense, Surskit was flung into the wall, fainting instantly.

The woman grimaced. "Poor guy. Come back, Surskit!" Reaching for her belt, she muttered, "I knew I should have used bubble." Sweeping her hair out of her face, she called out her second pokemon: Vivillion.

Serena had heard of them, but had never seen one before. Still, it was the only thing standing in the way of her first badge. How tough could it be?

"Fen, pull her out of the sky with a bite!"

Not missing a beat, the butterfly soared upwards, leaving the fox empty-handed.

"Okay, Vivs!" Viola called, "Let's get this guy out of the way real fast! Use attract!"

"Use another ember, before it's too late!" About to be engulfed by the pheromones, Fen launched his attack.

Zipping to the left, Vivillion was completely unscathed by the fire. Meanwhile, despite a direct hit, Fen was unaffected by attract.

"Oh, come on! A female fennekin? That's just not fair!"

Serena's jaw dropped. "Fen's a girl?!"

The gym leader's eyebrow twitched. "Apparently. Still, the match isn't anywhere near over. Vivs, infestation, now!"

"Get another ember ready, boy! Uh, Girl!"

Swooping down, Vivillion released a thick, slimy miasma around Fen. The fox was quick to counter. Launching upwards, she spat fire at the bug's underbelly, causing it to recoil. However, by the time Fen landed, it was apparent she wasn't doing so well. She was whimpering, scratching at her fur. Within a few seconds, she lost her balance, slipping through the net. Even after hitting the ground, she kept nipping at herself furiously, unable to focus on anything else.

"Fen! Come back!" But nothing happened.

"You can't call back a pokemon when its suffering from an infestation." Viola explained calmly. "Now, Vivillion, tackle her!"

The bug pokemon thrust downwards, only to be flung back into the air by the net. Looking at her trainer, she shook her head.

"Oh." Beads of sweat glistened on the gym leader's face. "Use harden?" She squeaked uncertainly.

After a minute or so of Viola repeatedly ordering her pokemon to harden, the worst of Fen's infestation had worn off. While she looked terrible, she was still ready for battle. "Nobody can dodge forever! Keep using ember. And stay under the net!"

Darting directly under the butterfly, Fen unleashed a vicious barrage of fireballs. Was it cheating? Probably, but watching her friend writhe in seemingly endless agony was a dirty tactic in and of itself. The third shot grazed the butterfly, and the fourth was a direct hit. Now both pokemon were in poor shape.

"Come on Fen, one more hit!" She encouraged the fox.

Jumping upwards, Fen launched one last ember attack, hitting the butterfly in its thorax. Unable to take any more, both creatures flopped to the ground.

Sighing, Viola called back her pokemon. "Okay, kid. I give up. You win. It was utter bullshit, but you win." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a bug badge. "This is for you. Congratulations." Just like she'd done before the battle, she hopped across the spiderweb, and handed Serena the badge. "I'm going to warn you though: if you rely on exploits, you're not going to get very far as a trainer. Most arenas don't have places you can abuse so easily." The older woman's sternness quickly melted away. "That being said, you seem to have a fair grasp on your Fennekin's abilities. Although, you might not want to rely so much on ember in the future." She chuckled.

Serena flushed. "Thank you," and with that, she called back Fen, and left.

The women waved at each other as they walked away. Maybe one day, they'd battle again on fair terms. For now, though, they both had to move on.

After all, there are many things one must do to become a pokemon master.

A/N: While writing this, I discovered XY Ash stole Calem's outfit. How undignified.


	4. Chapter 4

After what had been a fairly long day, Serena returned to the pokemon centre. At this point, she figured she owed it to her pokemon to turn in early and treat them to a grooming session. Both of them were absolutely filthy, after all.

Releasing Fen and Starman from their pokeballs, she began to fill the sink with warm water. Ever curious, the raccoon jumped right in. He quickly decided it wasn't his cup of tea, preferring to track mud all across the kitchenette counters.

The girl was irritated, but her feelings turned to total panic the moment her zigzagoon turned toward the sofa. She had to wonder if a full-body tackle was a bit excessive, but after seeing the stains on her smock, she decided she'd made the right call.

Perhaps it was because she'd never been on his bad side before, but it had never occurred to her just how sharp his teeth were. Noting to buy rubber gloves up to her elbow, she unceremoniously dumped Starman in the sink and none-too-delicately scoured every crumb of dirt out of his coat.

Thoroughly waterlogged, the zigzagoon beat a hasty retreat the moment Serena let him go. Curling up in the corner of the couch, he glared at her, pure venom in his eyes. She hoped he'd forgive her when he was dry...

Fen was much quieter, having resigned herself to her fate. There was little more than a whimper out of her for the whole ordeal. In a way, having to groom her was worse. Having to look into those big, mournful eyes as she poured water over the fox's head was like being repeatedly punched in the guts. Ultimately, though, the true horror grooming Fen had absolutely nothing to do with the pokemon herself. It came in the form of a soft rap on the door.

Muttering an apology to her starter, she went to see who it was. But, when she opened the door, nobody was there. She looked both ways down the hallway to make sure no one was hiding out of sight. Of course, it was deserted. Shrugging, she returned to her room, making sure to turn the lock behind her. She had no intention of being the victim of a practical joke tonight.

Fen was still waiting in the sink, the very picture of misery. Gently, Serena finished rinsing the soap out of her fennekin's fur, and shook out a towel over the counter. Scooping up her pet, the girl couldn't help but be bewildered when she found her fresh cloth completely sodden.

How odd. She must have accidentally tried to use Starman's towel twice. Leaving the fox atop the counter, Serena crouched down to grab another towel from the cabinet. When she opened the drawers, she found each and every one soaked through. Were the pipes in her room leaking or something?

Meanwhile, Fen was sitting on the ledge, slightly shivering. Reaching up, her trainer scratched her ears. "Sorry, girl. I'll grab a jacket from my bag." Said the human.

With a hop, skip, and a jump, the girl had snatched some clothing out of her rucksack and wrapped it neatly around her pokemon. "There." She smiled. "All better."

Leaving the neatly swaddled pokemon next to a still-grumpy Starman, she returned to the kitchen to make him a peace offering.

Mere moments after she started measuring ingredients, the hissing started. Against her better judgment, she ignored it. It only occurred to her just how badly she'd messed up after she heard what sounded like a river rampaging through the room, followed by a deafening shriek.

Serena felt something lapping at her feet. Water. Fearing greatly for the state of her living space, she looked up.

Everything was soaked. Everything. The floor, the sofa, the wall, nothing had been spared. Sitting traumatized in the epicenter was Fen, her fur plastered against her body once more. She looked like she was about to cry. Still, Serena had no idea how so much water had gotten into her room. At least, she didn't until she saw Starman.

He was facing the corner of the room, growling loudly. Unlike the fox, he didn't seem to mind being soaking wet. In front of him stood a small marill, terrified out of its wits. At least she knew where the water came from...

Leaping forwards, Starman smashed into the mouse, savagely clawing at its fur. The cornered pokemon was clearly distressed, flailing wildly and shrieking, unable to defend itself.

"Starman! Knock it off!" Begrudgingly, he acknowledged his trainer's command, backing an arm's length away from his target.

Cautiously, Serena approached the injured pokemon. It was bleeding from several small cuts, and scared out of its wits, but it wasn't anything major. She stretched out a hand for the marill to sniff. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." The trainer murmured softly.

The pokemon backed away from her, ears flat against its head.

Slowly, she retreated a few steps, not wanting to spook the water-type any more. "I'm just going over there." The girl gestured to the door. "Fen, Starman, come with me."

As she crept out of the room, Serena watched the stray. Its gaze was locked on her the whole time. Pulling the door shut behind her, the girl and her pokemon headed for the nurses' quarters.

When she walked in, there were several nurses lounging on the sofas. A younger girl looked at her in horror. "Did you fall in the lake or something?!" She asked, half-shrieking.

Flushing, the trainer shook her head. "A wild pokemon got in my room." There were a few moments of awkward silence before she asked; "I don't suppose you have any more towels, do you?"

Glancing down at the sodden pokemon beside her, another nurse scurried out of the room.

"What exactly happened in there?" One of the elder nurses asked.

Taking a deep breath, Serena explained everything. She was certain they were going to be furious. Instead, they sighed in relief.

"So _that's_ where marill ran off to."

Apparently, the intruder in her room was the same marill she'd taken into the pokemon centre a couple days ago. The nurses guessed that it wanted to thank her somehow, but its shyness got the better of it. Starman confronted it, and the frightened pokemon had attacked, shooting water everywhere.

Some of the off duty nurses agreed to help Serena clean up. Marill was a lot calmer with the trainer's pokemon hanging out in the staff room. While not especially helpful, the aqua mouse even tried to sponge up the mess itself.

With the small army they had working together, the room was back to mint condition within the hour, save for the sofa cushions.

As they were leaving, the nurse tapped on her shoulder."Hey Serena, why don't you take marill with you?" The older girl asked.

"I don't think she'd get along with the others..." She replied, looking over at the ecstatic-looking creature.

"She's a tough cookie. I've heard a lot of good things about having a marill on your team."

"Maybe..."

Waddling over, marill started tugging on the trainer's skirt.

"Hey," she cried with faux indigence, "Are you trying to guilt me into training you?"

It grinned and nodded. "Marill!"

"Wouldn't you rather stay here? I don't think you'd like battling."

Marill huffed, doing its best to cross its arms. Unwilling to take "no" for an answer, it hobbled over to Serena's bag, and climbed into it.

"If I don't catch you, you're just going to follow me, aren't you?" The girl asked dryly.

"Marill!"

Crouching down, she put an empty pokeball on the floor. "You'll have to put up with my zigzagoon, you know..."

For a moment, the mouse paused. Then, it shrugged, and tapped the pokeball, capturing itself. Picking up the ball, the girl hoped that this would work out.

The next morning, as the sun rose, Serena finally set out towards Lumiose City. It was only a short walk, but thanks to a combination of battles and pokemon hunting, she didn't get there until noon. On a whim, she had captured a combee, thinking that he'd make things easier for her marill. She hadn't thought of names for either of them, yet. Her mother had always said to sleep on a decision before making it. Although, looking back on it, she'd never really followed that advice, always favoring spontaneity instead.

When she arrived, she discovered a good half of Lumiose was suffering from a major power outage, meaning she couldn't challenge the city's gym. While she would have loved to stick around for a few days, she found out the hard way just how expensive the city could be. Camphrier Town, would be cheaper, right?

Optimistic, Serena kept walking. Maybe next time she went to Lumiose, she'd have somebody to split the bill with.

With that on her mind, she started swapping contact information with some of the trainers she met. None of them were planning on challenging the League or anything, but it couldn't hurt to have some more trainer friends, now could it?

In fact, she was in such a giving mood that day, when she ran into the white-clad sandwich idiots from the other day, she struck up a conversation with them.

As it turned out, Jessinda and Jameson were perfectly nice people, although admittedly a touch odd. Like her, they were pokemon trainers. Jameson was also a very talented chef, when given the resources. He had apparently attended a rather affluent school in his childhood, and cooking had been a staple class. They shared custody of a meowth, the only pokemon they had between them.

Serena had been quite confused about that. She thought you were given at least one pokemon after obtaining a trainer's license. So, she had asked; "Why are you two sharing a pokemon?"

The woman looked away from her, bursting into tears. Her companion put his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. "It's alright Jessinda! Don't cry!" The man said, his own voice shaky and high-pitched.

Covering her mouth, Serena apologized; "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset."

Jessinda looked back at the girl, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. "No, no, it's alright. It's just that I... I lost him recently."

"I'm so sorry! What happened?"

Dramatically throwing back her head, the woman answered. "He was stolen!"

Serena gasped, clasping her hands together. "Who would do such a thing?"

"There's this... this twerp! He was always following us around. You see, he was jealous that I was a better trainer than him. So... one night...he...he..." She broke down, weeping hysterically. Rubbing her back, the man whispered something soothing to her, pulling her even more tightly against him. "Sorry, I'm getting so emotional," Jessinda continued, breathing erratic; "He stole my Pikachu."

"That's terrible! Did you go to the police?" The girl asked, feeling strangely invested.

She shook her head. "They turned us away. They said they didn't have time for petty things like that."

"Do you know where this thief is? He might give him back if you confront him."

"I've tried, but without my Pikachu..." The woman's voice dropped off. A moment later, she was bawling again.

Jameson looked over at her, eyes pleading. "You're a strong trainer, aren't you? I know it's a lot to ask, but could you save Pikachu for us? We can't do it ourselves..."

Serena closed her eyes, breathing deeply. These poor people needed help, and it seemed like no one else would give it to them. "Alright. Where is he?"

"We saw him at the Versant Skate Park an hour or two ago. He's about your age, wearing a blue jacket and a baseball cap."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do." Hurriedly, Serena left, heading back to Lumiose.

The skate park wasn't too far from them, maybe a fifteen or twenty minute walk. She hoped that the man hadn't left yet, she had no idea where to start if he were gone.

Thankfully, it looked like he was still there. Sitting on the grass outside the skatepark was a boy matching Jameson's description. Still, there was something bothering the girl about this theft. For one, there was a Pikachu quite contentedly standing next to him, munching on an apple. However, there was something even more dubious: she knew the only boy even remotely matching the description she'd been given, and she was pretty sure he hadn't stolen anyone's pokemon.

"Hello, Ash!" Serena called, waving at him.

Looking up, he smiled at her. "Serena! I was worried about you! What happened?"

Bashfully, she shrugged. "I got a little bit sidetracked... I don't suppose you've seen anyone around your age and dressed a bit like you in the last couple of hours, have you?"

The boy looked confused. "Uh... no? But I've been here all day. Can't imagine I'd be much help."

"You're sure? I'm certain he was here fairly recently."

"Yep. Most everyone here is a lil kid."

This whole thing was getting really weird. Ash wouldn't steal a pokemon. Could he be covering for somebody? Scanning the rink once again, she caught sight of a timid man in a blue tracksuit. He was being hassled by a little girl... Bonnie? Ash had said he was traveling with her and her elder brother... what was his name? Clive? Maybe he was the thief... "Who's that?" She asked, pointing to the blonde man.

"Huh? You've met him, haven- oh, right! You didn't. That's Clemont. He's Bonnie's big brother."

"Does he ever wear a hat?" She asked.

Ash seemed taken aback. "No? Why?"

Sighing, she turned back to face him. "I'm looking for a pokemon thief. A couple told me that a boy stole their Pikachu, and asked me to look for him. They said he was a teenager with a blue jacket and a baseball cap, and that he was hanging out around here."

The boy's face twisted up oddly. "What did these guys look like?"

Serena put her hand on her chin, thinking back. "One was a blue-haired man, and the other was a woman with long red hair. They wore matching white uniforms, and they owned a meowth. They-"

"Did these uniforms have a really big red 'R' on the front?" Ash asked flatly.

"Yeah. They said it stood for 'Rangers' or something. Apparently, it's a really big deal where they came from."

"Rocket."

"No, that's not it. They said-"

"It stands for Team Rocket. I know those guys. They're crooks. Been after my Pikachu for ages. Though, I've gotta admit, tellin' someone that Pikachu belongs to them is a new one." Grumbling, the boy pulled himself to his feet. "If ya see 'em again, don't trust 'em."

"Why would they do that?" She asked, a little confused.

"Wish I knew. Mine ain't the only Pikachu around."

"But it's the best one." A sing-song voice rang out over the clearing. Ash just groaned.

Emerging from the woods was a large and amazingly well hidden stage. Atop it were Jessinda and Jameston, standing back to back.

"It's a pity, but it looks like this one didn't pan out." Remarked the man.

"I suppose most little girls can't help but have doubts." His partner continued.

"To protect the world-"

"Why would you lie about someone stealing your pokemon?! That's just awful!" Serena yelled at them.

"We're in the middle of our motto, little girl! Have some manners!" Jessinda spat back.

Ash butted into the conversation. "We've heard enough! Pikachu, volt tackle!"

Charging forward , the little mouse gathered all the electricity it could, and launched itself towards the couple, sending them flying off into the sky.

"That's the third time in three days." A man behind them commented. "Are they ever going to give up?"

"Probably not." Ash sighed. "At least it gives Pikachu some exercise. Right, lil buddy?" The little pokemon squeaked approvingly. "Anyways, Clemont, you haven't met Serena, have you?"

The blond straightened his glasses. "I believe not." He extended his hand out towards the girl. "Nice to meet you, Serena."

She nodded curtly. "Likewise."

"I take it this is the same Serena you and Bonnie were talking about?" He inquired.

"Yep." He looked over at her. "Thinking about it, you never told me why you ran off a couple days ago..."

"That," She began, "Is a long story."

As briefly as she could, she explained how she had ended up working at the pokemon centre for most of the day, and then how she couldn't find them the next, and kept on with her travels. "But anyways, what have you been up to?" She asked.

The boy shrugged, "This 'n that. I got the bug badge, and came back to Lumiose."

"Wait, you came to Santalune, and I missed you?"

"I left right after I beat the gym there. I've been hanging out around here ever since."

She nodded. "I see. You've spent all that time rollerskating?"

Ash laughed, "A lot of it, yeah. Bonnie needed a break, so we decided to stay here for a bit longer."

Looking out across the park, she could see the little girl skating quite contently with her brother.

"Hey, do want to skate with us for a while?" The boy asked.

She jolted upright, a little pink. "I don't know..."

"Ah, c'mon, it'll be fun!"

"No, I mean..." The girl glanced down, a little flustered. "I don't know how to skate."

He gave her an incredulous look. "Seriously?" Reaching out, he grabbed her wrist, "I'll teach you, then!"

"...I don't even have skates..."

"Don't worry 'bout it! You can rent 'em."

And that was how, not ten minutes later, Serena found herself standing rigidly at the edge of the park, absolutely convinced she'd keel over if she moved so much as an inch forward.

"Are you scared?" Ash teased, skating up to her.

"No." She replied, refusing to look at him.

"Alright! Let's go!" He grabbed her wrists.

She gulped. "What?"

Then, he yanked her forwards. She shrieked. Pulling her along with him, he supported her as he lead her around the park perimeter.

"See?" He grinned at her. "It's fun!"

"I'm gonna fall!"

"What're you talkin' about? You're doing great!" Laughing, he pulled her into a spin.

Serena tripped, plummeting head first into Ash. Panicking, she began to flail, trying to pull herself upright again. It failed miserably when Ash lost his balance, and the pair tumbled to the ground.

"S-sorry!" She was mortified, quickly scrabbling off of the boy.

He just laughed. "S'fine. I guess I got a little carried away! You okay?"

"I should be asking you that!"

"Nah, s'all good." Skillfully, he pulled himself back onto his feet, before offering her his hand.

Taking his hand, he helped her to her feet. "I think that's enough of that for today." She remarked, hobbling awkwardly to the edge of the ring. The boy followed her.

"Yeah, I'd say we've both earned a break."

A/N: I don't really have anything to say this time, but I don't want the tradition to die.


	5. Chapter 5

Though night had began to fall, the day's warmth still lingered. Serena lay on a grassy slope, dozing in the late-day heat. Traveling in a group was tiresome, she thought, lazily observing the others set up camp. It was slow, too. They weren't even close to Camphrier Town, and they'd walked for hours.

Bonnie had been quick to blame Clemont for that, and honestly, the teenager couldn't disagree. He worked at his own pace, and unfortunately, that pace was at a crawl. Although, she couldn't deny the man was brilliant, even if he was a little... spacey. It was quite amusing how different he was from his sister. Her mother had always joked about how brazen children were, but Serena would never in a million years have expected a child to walk up to her, look her dead in the eye, and ask her to marry somebody. In comparison, Clemont was shy. Evidently, he was embarrassed, too: he hadn't spoken to her since, other than to apologize for his sister. Since they'd made camp, he'd been busily micromanaging everything down to the last tent peg, and she suspected he was trying to avoid her.

Speaking of tent pegs, Serena had to admit she was nervous. It had been, what, a week since she started traveling? Tonight would be her first night actually sleeping under the stars. As a child, such things had seemed romantic, but now, well... she was happy that she had company the first time, to say the least.

Since she'd been completely useless at assembling her own tent, Ash had to help her out. She'd offered to help him out with his, but he had immediately declined. It was with creeping horror that she realized her survival skills were nonexistent. Shortly after, she'd exiled herself to the slope. They were getting things done a lot faster without her in the way.

Not that she was the only one slacking. Bonnie hadn't done anything, either. Granted, Bonnie was a 6 to 8 year old girl, but it made Serena feel better about herself.

To make up for it, when Clemont had finished tinkering around with the stove, she'd cook dinner for everybody. The late lunch she'd had in Lumiose was delicious, but far from filling, even after that stomach-tightening bill.

Things were much the same the following morning, and, feeling guilty at her lack of camping knowledge, ended up cooking once again. Despite the men assuring her that they didn't mind putting up an extra tent, she felt an instinctive need to ingratiate herself to them. Being a dead-weight felt awful.

Nobody really talked in camp. Serena could only assume it was due to the profound lack of coffee present. The tiny jar of instant she had in her backpack wouldn't stand a chance if the others knew of its existence. Maybe it was a good thing, though. Ash was even cuter drowsy.

It wasn't until Bonnie piped up that anyone really said anything, and it all started with a suggestion. "Let's go to the Parfum Palace!"

Her brother half-flinched. "That's a little ambitious. It's pretty far away."

The little girl pouted. "It'd be fun."

"It's really out of the way."

"Is not!"

Clemont sighed. It wasn't worth arguing with children.

A compromise might work, though. "There's a castle in Camphrier town. You could visit when we get there." Serena suggested.

Huffing, the child crossed her arms. "Shabboneau castle is boring."

Apparently not. Without another word, Serena returned to her breakfast.

"We have a schedule to keep, Bonnie. There's not enough time."

" _You_ have a schedule to keep." She replied bitterly.

"I can't just let you wander off on your own."

Scowling, the little girl stabbed at her food. "When are we leaving?"

"Soon." Her brother replied.

As it turned out, "Soon" was actually very soon. Ash's frogadier made a break for it, and his trainer charged right after him, leaving the others to hurriedly pack up everything and chase after them. They were practically in Camphrier town by the time Ash managed to catch up with his runaway pokemon. Clemont had practically collapsed in exhaustion upon arrival. His recovery was far from swift, leaving them stranded in the pleasant, albeit dull, little town.

"Anyone wanna visit Shabby-now castle?" Ash asked.

"Sounds fun!" The Serena replied cheerfully. Glancing down at Bonnie, she smiled. "Want to come with us?"

The brat stuck out her tongue. "It's boring."

"I guess you can watch Clemont for us, then." Ash teased.

Stubbornly, the little girl turned away. "I guess I will."

"Have fun." Serena said, waving over her shoulder. "Coming, Ash?"

"Sure thing." He strolled over to her, taking her by the hand, and leading her out of the pokemon centre.

Looking up at the boy next to her, she asked; "So, when do you think she'll change her mind?

Shrugging, he replied: "I dunno. She can be pretty stubborn."

Without a care in the world, they sauntered across town. Even with their rather casual pace, it only took a few minutes to arrive at the Shabboneau.

"This is a hotel?" Ash sounded surprised.

"If you're rich." The girl explained. "It's _really_ expensive. To most people, it's more of a museum. Lots of Kalosian history in here."

He nodded. "...It doesn't cost anything to look around, does it?"

Scoffing, she pushed on the heavy oaken door. "Nope."

The building itself was ancient, dating back just over a millennium. For a long time, it was abandoned, since the monarchy had moved to the Parfum Palace. Since then, the castle had been heavily renovated, becoming a popular resort for those wealthy enough to stay here. Much of the original stonework had been replaced over the years, adding a strange mish-mashed texture to the from various repairs. Still, there was something about the place that seemed peaceful, almost sleepy. There were those who considered it very romantic. In fact, Serena had heard many a honeymoon had been spent here. Not that she was going to tell Ash that. The looks she was getting from staff were embarrassing enough already.

Before he had his foot in the door, something had captured Ash's attention. A massive tapestry hung on the far wall. It was ragged, and patchy, like the castle itself. Hundreds of years ago, when it was first made, it would have been quite vivid, with its clashing reds and blues. In current days, however, most of the pigments had faded.

The boy approached it, almost spellbound. "Hey Serena, what's this?"

"La Vie et Le Morte. It's an old Kalosian legend." Her gaze drifted across the piece. She hadn't seen it since she was a little girl. At this point, she had to wonder she could count it as nostalgic.

"We don't really have legends about pokemon where I'm from..." He sounded almost disappointed.

"Really? We have far too many here. No one can remember where they came from."

The boy cocked his head. "Huh?"

"Our legends kind of overlap with our neighbors' legends. We're always arguing about it."

"Ah, okay." Furrowing his eyebrows, he gazed intently at the piece. "What's this one about, anyways?"

"A plague."

"Isn't that an odd thing to hang on your wall?" The boy asked, a little disgusted.

Serena shrugged. "I always thought of it as a symbol of respect, myself. Xerneas-" She pointed to the blue pokemon at the bottom of the tapestry, "Was thought of as a giver of life. The people of Kalos believed he protected us from Yveltal. And the plague, of course."

"So, the flying pokemon is Evultil?"

She nodded. "In the myths, he represents death."

"That's cool. Where I'm from, we have freezy bird, zappy bird, and fiery bird."

"I find that Kantoan legends tend to revolve around comparatively common pokemon, such as haunter, arcanine, or dratini."

Ash looked down at the girl, regarding her with a bemused expression. "Serena..." He started cautiously, before his tone became slightly ribbing: "Are you a nerd?"

She froze in her tracks. History was a fun subject, all things considered. In her childhood, she'd loved reading about myths, and that affection remained even when she had to study it in school. But, did she want to call herself a geek? There was nothing wrong with being educated! Why should she demean herself with such a term?

"I am not!" She snapped defensively.

"Sure." He drawled slyly, grinning slightly. "That case by the stairs looks interesting. I'm sure you can tell me all about it."

Groaning, she trudged to the next thing he took notice of: a collection of party masks. He frowned, puzzled. "What're these?"

"Ball masks. The nobility would sometimes wear them at parties."

"Like an old-timey costume party." He remarked.

"You know, it's thought those were inspired by masquerades."

"The same goes for contests." An unfamiliar voice remarked from above. A girl around Serena's age was leaning over the balustrade, watching them. She waved. "Hi Ash, I thought it was you."

Glancing up, he instantly recognized her."Dawn! What brings you to Kalos?"

"I'm here for the annual Bal Masqué festival."

"Really? I didn't think they had those in Kalos..."

"Oh- it's not a contest!" She laughed nervously. "It's a performance. My agent got me the part."

"Congratulations! That's awesome."

Grin a mile wide, Dawn thanked him. Looking over at the other girl, she asked: "Who's your new friend?"

"Serena." The girl said plainly, extending her hand. "It's nice to meet you... Dawn, is it?"

"Yep! Sorry, I should of introduced myself earlier. It's nice to meet you, too. You're from here, I take it?"

Serena nodded. "I'm from Vaniville Town. You?"

"Twinleaf, in Sinnoh." Dawn looked back at Ash. "Hey Ash, did you know May and Drew are here as well?"

The boy perked up. "Really?"

"I needed moral support." She jested. "No, I'm kidding. May's trying her hand at showcases, and Drew tagged along."

"He's not participating?"

"Showcases are girls-only." Dawn explained. "He was pretty annoyed, though. For now, he's acting as her manager."

"Good. Last time they tried long-distance, it was a disaster."

Her face scrunched up, like she'd just bitten into a lemon. "I remember all too well." Suddenly, her eyes shot open. "Sorry, Serena! I did it again!"

The other girl waved it off. "Don't worry about it."

Dawn shrugged. "I mean, I'm kind of ruining your date, aren't I?"

Serena felt her face grow hot. "It's not a date!" She and Ash yelled in sync.

Looking away from each other, both blushed a little. "What I mean is-" Serena began; "We're waiting for someone, and there's not a lot to do here, so..."

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, she remarked: "You guys make a cute couple."

"I-it's not like that!" Ash protested, a little red-faced.

"Ah, young love."

"I'm older than you!"

"Barely." She winked.

Taking a deep breath, Serena brought her hand to her face, praying that something would come to rescue her from the faux-sibling teasing. Dawn kept goading on Ash, who, in turn, got more and more flustered. These two were worse than Bonnie and Clemont.

"I did _not_ eat Brock's pokemon food!" Ash cried indignantly.

Casually as possible, Serena slipped away to an exhibit in the next room. She could hear Ash clearly through the walls, and couldn't help but cringe a little.

Maybe she should go and check on Clemont? Yes, that was precisely what she should do. The pair were so engrossed in their "conversation" that neither noticed as Serena made her escape.

Not looking back, she returned to the pokemon centre. Bonnie was sitting on the floor, doodling pictures with Clemont and a very small raichu.

The young man looked up at her. "Hey Serena, where's Ash?"

Serena sat down with the group. "He's still at the castle. We ran into an old friend of his, and I thought I'd let them catch up." She abruptly changed the subject. "Meeny-mo can draw?"

The raichu trilled, and started waving around a red crayon. "A lot of pokemon can." Clemont remarked. "I'll bet you a batch of pokepuffs yours can, too."

"All of them?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. "So if even one can't, you'll give me free pokepuffs?"

Looking oddly at her, he replied: "I...guess?" Fixing his glasses, he added: "I get to choose what they draw, though."

"Bonnie, can I have some paper? I've got a bet to win."

Without looking up, the girl slid a small stack over to her, along with some crayons. Deciding to wrap up this contest as fast as possible, she called out her combee: Rolo.

"Hey boy, think you can draw me something?" The bumblebee flapped his wings excitedly. She didn't like to doubt her own pokemon, but she couldn't see how he could draw anything with a physicality like that.

The blond smiled at the pokemon. "Can you draw yourself?"

Hovering above the crayons, the pokemon contemplated his choices, before swooping down and grabbing a red pastel with his mouth. Keeping himself in the air, he slowly and skillfully placed line after line. Serena couldn't believe her eyes: in a few short minutes, the bee had drawn a fairly accurate picture of himself.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" He buzzed happily. Even she couldn't deny he'd done a great job. She told him so, and called him back.

"Want to try again?" Clemont asked.

"From now on, why don't you pick the picture before I call someone out?"

"Sure. How about a house?"

"Fine." She called out her zigzagoon. Surely he'd _eat_ the paper rather than draw on it. "Starman, could you draw me a house?"

Stifling a scream, Serena watched as her pokemon drew a rather sloppy house on the paper. Exasperated, she thanked him, and returned him to his pokeball. How could they draw so passably with their mouths?

Clemont requested a tree, and in response, she sent out Bubbles the marill. With dinky little arms like that, there was no way she should be able to reach the paper, right?

Somehow, she wasn't surprised when her marill proved her wrong.

"Do you want to give up?" The inventor asked softly.

Serena thought for a moment. The only pokemon left was Fen. She knew the writing was on the wall. Still, she was proud, and she sent out her final pokemon.

The mission was simple. Draw one simple little flower. Fen was super excited to try something new, and bounded over to the crayons. Reaching down, she grabbed one with her mouth, and instantly began to cough and gag.

With a soft whine, the fox spat out a half-melted crayon. Ears drooping, she grabbed another. It happened again. And again. And again, until the pile Bonnie had given her was nothing more than a heap of melted wax. Looking down at the mound, the fire-type burst into tears.

Victory felt awful. "It's okay, Fennie! They're just crayons." Serena said, trying to soothe the creature. Fen just sobbed harder.

Rubbing the fennekin's back, the trainer desperately tried to think of a way to fix this. "Drawing is overrated anyways! You're not missing out."

The fox began to howl mournfully, drawing the attention of a disgruntled nurse. "Whatever is the matter with him?" He asked, covering his ears.

Any other day, Serena would've done a double take at a male Nurse Joy, but she was a little distracted. Nervously, she replied, "I guess she really wanted to draw."

"This... this tantrum is over a couple melted crayons?!" He roared. Stalking off, the man began to mutter curses under his breath.

Digging through his bag, Clemont pulled out a small box of pokepuffs. "It's okay, girl." He cooed soothingly. "Have a pokepuff."

Fen still looked utterly dejected, but she stopped baying. Or rather, she had until he opened the box. It was completely empty, licked clean by an especially overzealous pokemon. As the fox burst into hysterics once more, Clemont cursed his chespin quietly.

Looking desperately over at the man, Serena half shouted: "Should I call her back?"

He nodded grimly, sighing with relief when the howling stopped. "There wasn't much else that could be done." Then, he realized something was wrong. "Where'd Bonnie go?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.

A packet of coloured pencils landed between them, breaking the tension somewhat. The male nurse had returned. "Those won't melt." He muttered, before retreating into the darkness, never to be seen again. Well, not by them, at least.

"That was odd." Serena flatly remarked, before returning to the original subject. "Meeny-mo's gone, too. I can't imagine they've gone far."

Pushing himself to his feet, Clemont sighed in relief. "Oh, I see her. She went to the pokemart."

The little girl skipped back towards him, holding a large box. "Where's Fen?"

"Her pokeball." Serena muttered glumly.

"I got some pokepuffs for her." The little girl said, crouching down. Without warning, she smacked Fen's pokeball, freeing her. "Hi Fenny! I brought you some pokepuffs!"

The fox stared at the child warily, having had her trust betrayed far too many times that day. Bonnie didn't seem to notice, and opened the box. "I don't know what flavours you liked, so I got a bunch!"

Fen squeaked slightly, amazed at the variety. Lightning-fast, she snatched a coffee mint cake out, and devoured it within seconds, tail wagging.

"I think that's a bit too much for one pokemon, Bonnie." Her elder brother remarked.

She giggled. "Yep! I'll give the leftovers to Meeny-mo!"

The man groaned. That wasn't what he meant. "They'll get fat if they eat too many cakes, Bonnie. Maybe you could share them with all our pokemon."

Pouting, she passed another sweet to the Fennekin. "Fine. But none for Chespin."

"Huh? Why not?"

"He's already fat."

After a few cakes, Bonnie discovered the coloured pencils, and gave them to Fen. The pair drew for ages, while Serena and Clemont discussed whether or not they thought Ash had noticed she'd gone yet. It had been at least an hour or two since she left, after all.

Then, Serena felt a tap on her shoulder. Bonnie was standing behind her, smiling like a wild thing. "Look what Fen drew!"

Proudly, the pokemon held a piece of paper in her jaws. On it was an indecipherable mess of brightly coloured scribbles.

Doing her best to force a natural smile, Serena lied through her teeth: "It looks great, Fen." Keeping her incredibly plastic expression, she turned to Clemont. "Have you ever seen such a beautiful flower?"

A/N: Speaking of legendaries, did you know Arcanine is the Legendary Pokemon? That's literally the species name. And there was me wondering why the recent distributions referred to them as "mythical pokemon."


	6. Chapter 6

"Take me to the Parfum Palace! Please!"

Somehow, that evening, Bonnie had managed to corner Serena. The little girl was looking up at the teenager, pleading.

Scratching the back of her neck, Serena nervously replied: "I'd have to ask Clemont..."

"If you say yes, he'll agree!" The little girl remarked happily.

Serena may have been an only child, but she was pretty sure that wasn't how it worked. "He might not trust me enough to look after you." She said.

There was also the fact the teen had no idea how to care for a child.

Bonnie pouted. " _I_ trust you."

"That's very sweet of you to say... but you should get your brother's permission first."

"But _you're_ going to the Parfum Palace!"

Serena put on the biggest smile she could muster."That's because I don't have a nice big brother to take care of me."

The child glared at her. "That doesn't have anythin' to do with it!"

"Even if I did take you to the Parfum Palace with me, we'd end up way behind the others."

"Clemont's slow. We'd catch up."

"Maybe, but I'm sure he'd rather know you're alright." Looking at her watch, she realized something. "Isn't it a little past your bedtime, Bonnie? Your brother's going to come looking for you."

Puffing out her cheeks, the little girl huffed out a "Fine!" under her breath, and stalked out of the room.

Maybe now Serena could get some sleep. If she was going to leave early tomorrow morning, she'd need it. After all, she'd already said her goodbyes to the others, and would hopefully rejoin the group when they returned to Lumiose. She and Ash may have had the same goals, but he was way too experienced as a trainer for her to effectively practice against. So, they decided to split up while she trained independently.

Indeed, going to bed early had solved many of her problems. When she woke up, it was barely past dawn. Not wanting to disturb anyone at this hour, she crept to her door, and opened it. Standing straight in front of her was Bonnie. Apparently, she had been waiting for her.

"Are we leaving?" She asked, upbeat. "Clemont said I could go with you."

Serena didn't want to think about how many hours the little girl must have spent pestering him to get that response. She called the child's bluff. "I'd prefer to hear that from him."

"Alright."

Evidently, it was a gamble she'd lost. Bonnie skittered off down the hallways, presumably to collect her brother. It wasn't even 6 o'clock right now, and the teen couldn't help but feel bad for him. Not waiting for their return, Serena went to the kitchens to make herself some coffee.

Basking in what little remained of her solitude, she cracked open a book she'd packed. She didn't get much reading done, unfortunately. Most of her alone time was spent debating whether or not she could get away with ditching Bonnie here. The answer: unlikely.

Sighing, she decided to savor the last of her peace.

When Bonnie returned, she did indeed have her elder brother in tow, albeit barely conscious. The boy clearly just wanted to go back to bed.

"Go on." The little girl half-demanded. "Tell her."

Yawning, he flopped down in a chair. "She can go." He muttered wearily. Serena wasn't entirely sure he knew what he was saying.

"See? He said it was okay." His sister was far too excited for this time of the morning.

The teen would have questioned him a little more, but he had already fallen asleep in his chair. Rolling her eyes, she replied. "Fine. But you're to call him every day."

Bonnie was still ecstatic even after they'd left the pokemon centre thirty or so minutes later. While Serena had her doubts about how good of a babysitter she'd be, at least she'd have somebody to talk to during her detour. Now, it had been true historically that children were poor company, but there was always an exception to the rule, right?

The first thing the elder girl learned was that children were very good at almost getting themselves killed. Between Bonnie trying to pet a wild honedge, falling out of a tree, and attracting a horde of venepede by screeching the national anthem at the top of her lungs, Serena was a nervous wreck. If anything happened to the girl...

For safety purposes, she decided to call out Fen. At first, the little pokemon was confused, but after a few minutes, she was quite enjoying the fresh air. Or, at least, she was until Bonnie snatched her off the ground and forced her into a rib-crushing hug. Judging by the poor creature's face, being in a pokeball would have been preferable.

Palais Lane was quite long, so Fen would have to suffer it for now. The last thing the teen wanted was for Bonnie to get into even more trouble. Keeping an eye on her was hard enough even with a fennekin serving as bait. It was a shame, really, she'd been hoping to catch more pokemon out here.

If only she could find a babysitter...

As if she'd be that lucky. The pair kept walking in silence. Or, at least, Serena did. Bonnie was loudly fawning over how cute the ears of a fennekin were. Taking pity on her starter, she showed the little girl how to properly hold a pokemon.

Forlornly, the elder girl looked out across the palace fields. She'd easily seen a half-dozen trainers running through the tall grass, battling one another and catching the rare creatures that resided there. "Soon." She promised herself. Maybe Bonnie would want to take a nap or something. Kids her age did that, right?

At least she got to stay in the shade. Like most days of a Kalosian summer, it was hot, windless, and humid. Great for swimming, but not especially good for wandering around in the open. Maybe she could convince herself this was for the best. So much sun was bad for the skin, after all.

No, that wasn't working. She groaned softly, and kept trudging forwards. The road couldn't go on forever, eventually she'd reach the palace.

"Hey, Serena?" Bonnie was tugging on her skirt.

Why did she agree to this? "Yes?" She asked, trying to keep a level head.

"Is it lunch time, yet?"

The teen glanced down at her pokedex. 10:43. "No."

"But Fen's hungry..." Bonnie protested.

"She just ate."

"I can feel her tummy grumbling!"

Looking down, she could see Fen was sleeping soundly in the child's arms. Serena scratched the fox's stomach, and instantly realized what the kid was talking about: there was a strange buzzing emanating from the pokemon. Serena chuckled. "She's just purring."

Bonnie was gobsmacked. "But she's a dog!"

"Fox." She corrected. "And Foxes purr."

The little girl stared at Fen in total fascination. "Fen, you're weird."

Her only reply was a contented squeak. And more "purring." The fox turned in her arms, exposing its belly.

"Why'd you choose Fennekin?" Bonnie abruptly asked.

"Huh? You mean as my starter?"

"Yeah."

"Being honest?" The teen shrugged. "I'd say it was a gut feeling. Why do you ask?"

Frowning, Bonnie didn't reply.

"What's wrong?"

Scowling hard now, the little girl asked: "Why doesn't anyone have a reason for choosing their first pokemon?"

"You ask this a lot, don't you?"

"And everybody always says: 'it was random,' 'I liked this one,' 'he was the only pokemon left.' Nobody ever gives me a reason."

Serena laughed. "Those are reasons, even if they're not good ones."

The little girl wrinkled her nose in disgust. "But how am I supposed to choose a partner with advice like that?"

"You don't. If you can't make a choice based on how you feel, make one based on facts."

Bonnie didn't look convinced, but she nodded, and kept walking for a few minutes more. Upon rounding a corner on Palais Lane, the pair stopped.

"There's a weirdo over there." Said Bonnie, pointing ahead.

She wasn't wrong. Around twenty or thirty meters ahead of them, a bush had mysteriously sprouted legs. It was creeping away from them, but still, it was more than enough to make Serena uncomfortable.

"Hey you!" She shouted. The figure bolted upright. "What on earth are you playing at?!"

Slowly, it spun around. "Oh, hi Serena." A voice called awkwardly from inside.

That was creepy. The teen took a couple paces back. "How do you know my name?" She asked weakly.

"Don't you remember me?" He asked.

" _I should think I would,"_ she sniped internally. "Afraid not." Her reply was far more diplomatic than she'd expected.

"It's Calem! We met in Santalune?"

She wasn't quite sure she believed him."You're quite a lot bushier than I recalled."

"Eh? Oh, right." Rustling furiously, leaves began to drop off of the bush-man, revealing the boy inside it. "Better?"

"Much." Taking Bonnie's hand, she walked a little closer to him. "Now, if you don't mind me asking, why were you hiding in a bush?"

"They're crafty around here, the pokemon, I mean. I thought that I'd be able to catch some with a little camouflage." Rubbing the back of his neck, he confessed: "It didn't really work. Those Espurr saw right through it."

"Espurr?" Serena asked, tilting her head a little. "Those live around here?"

He nodded. "They're pretty hard to catch. It's like they know when you're looking for them." Looking over the girl's shoulder, he caught sight of Bonnie. "Is that your sister?"

"Oh, no, this is Bonnie. I agreed to watch her for a few days."

"Where'd her parents go?"

Serena responded with a non-committal shrug. Her charge was glaring at the foreigner, as if she were scrutinizing him. Gently, she nudged the child.

"Serena never mentioned you." The little girl remarked coldly.

He seemed unfazed by her attitude. "I'm not surprised." The boy swept some hair out of his face. "After all, we only solved a mystery together."

Both girls shot him a quizzical glance, not sure what he was planning.

"Really?" Bonnie asked skeptically.

"Really." And then, the most amazingly exaggerated story began to pour from his lips. At its core, it was that time when they went hunting for his stolen wallet, but with the *minor* additions of a gang of acrobat pokemon jewel thieves, undercover secret agents, and an alien conspiracy to outlaw wearing the colour white after Labour Day. Serena couldn't help but admit she was impressed: she couldn't even begin to fathom the number of c-grade sci-fi movies he must have watched in his life to conjure such an... elaborate tale.

By the time he finished his story, Bonnie looked ready to explode with laughter. "Sure thing, mister...?"

He offered her his hand. "Calem."

The girl looked his outreached palm as if it were a snake. "...I dunno where you've been."

"Alright." Backing off, he glanced over to Serena. "Did you come here to catch pokemon?"

The older girl nodded. "I haven't had much luck, though."

He thought for a moment, and then, he spoke. "Why don't we work together? They say two heads are better than one."

"What did you have in mind?"

"You know I mentioned Espurrs a few minutes ago? Well, I was referring to some very specific members of the breed. They're notorious around here for stealing from travelers."

"And you want to catch them?" Serena wasn't sure having a pair of kleptomaniacs around was the best idea.

"That's right! But, we need a plan."

"I think I may have an idea. Fen, come here." The fox leapt out of Bonnie's arms and trotted over to its trainer. "Calem, why don't we have a battle?"

Warily, he watched her gather all their bags and stack them in a pile. Crouching down next to her, he grabbed his wallet. "If this goes wrong..." he whispered. "Everything here will be gone for good."

"I'd better not mess up then." She called out Starman, and quietly slipped him some orders. Yipping in acknowledgment, he curled up next to Bonnie, gaze locked firmly on the luggage.

"Shall we begin?" Her rival asked.

"Fine by me. 2 pokemon each?"

"Sure thing!"

In sync, both grabbed a pokeball off their belt, and sent it out into the field. Her first pokemon was Rolo, whereas his was a Froakie. Silently, she breathed a thankful sigh that she hadn't picked Fen.

"Alright, Rolo, let's start off with Bug Buzz!"

Not wasting a second, the bee began to ferociously beat its wings, launching a shockwave at its opponent. Without even hearing a command, Froakie leapt back, dodging the worst of the attack.

"Water gun, now."

"Counter it with gust!"

Both pokemon scored a direct hit on one another, but only Rolo was launched back. Even though he'd only been out for a moment, he was already in a bad way. On the other side of the field, Calem was only just getting started.

He called for a tackle, followed by a paralyzing lick. Rolo tried to retaliate with bug bite, but he missed the mark by centimeters. And then, Calem called for one last attack.

Water pulse.

It wasn't super effective, but it was damaging enough. The combee dropped to the ground, no longer able to battle. Cursing under her breath, Serena prayed her next pokemon would fare better. Her choice? Bubbles.

Doing her best to look intimidating, the mouse lashed her tail. "Right, let's play rough!"

Within a second, her pokemon had barreled into Froakie, knocking him back across the arena.

"Your marill is quite a lot stronger than your other pokemon was! Froakie, lick him!"

The frog's tongue darted out, slobbering all over Bubbles. The mouse shrieked, horrified. "Grab onto it!"

Wincing, she grabbed the appendage."Spin him around!" Serena ordered.

Keeping a firm grasp upon him, Bubbles flung him around in rapid circles, dizzying her opponent.

"Blind her with your bubbles! Quick!" Eager to be free of his entrapment, he bombarded her with his bubble cloak, not realizing what would happen when she let go.

"Drop him." With one slight gesture, Froakie was freed from the steely grip of Bubbles. Unfortunately for him, this was not a good thing. During the seconds the marill had been spinning him around, he had reached an impressive velocity, and now, at that aforementioned impressive velocity, he was hurtling towards a nearby pillar.

Calem didn't wait to see what was going to happen, calling back his starter right away. "Let's say you fainted him." He reached for his last pokemon, but suddenly, Starman tore past him, barreling towards their supplies.

"I guess this'll have to wait." He remarked, turning towards the luggage.

Sure enough, a pair of Espurr were rifling though their possessions, looking like deer in the headlights.

"Go for it, Fen!" Yelping in approval, the fox raced to join Starman in the fray.

Not to be left out, Calem sent out a litleo, and ordered him to cut off their escape. However, the espurr weren't out of ideas.

Combining their efforts with helping hand, one of them launched a psywave at Litleo, pushing him out of the way. Then, they made their escape. Or at least, they tried to. At lightning speed, Starman crashed into them with a powerful pursuit, sending the smaller of the two tumbling to the ground.

The other one didn't stop, leaving its comrade to his fate. As he slipped into the undergrowth, the party felt that they may well be seeing more of him. But for now, they had one of them, pinned down by Starman.

"If you want him, take him." Said Calem. "I didn't do anything here."

The espurr was barely even struggling by Serena threw her pokeball. It didn't even have a chance of escape as the ball clicked shut. Picking it up, she turned to Calem. "Do you think the other one will keep stealing?"

"Probably. I think he'll wait until he has a new partner, though."

"Maybe..." She sighed. "It's getting late. Bonnie, we should get a move on. If we take much longer to get to the palace, we'll have to camp tonight."

The kid nodded. "Let's go, then!"

"Mind if I come with you two?" Calem asked. "I've never been."

"Feel free." Serena swore she could feel Bonnie's frigid glare as she said that. Picking up her bag, she pulled out a bunch of sandwiches, and handed a few to the child. "If we want to get there before evening, we're going to have to eat while we walk, okay?"

"Okay." Quietly, the girl began to gnaw on her lunch.

Serena handed her a couple pokeballs. "Could you feed these guys for me?"

Mouth full of bread, Bonnie nodded.

"Do you want one, Calem?" The teen knew she wouldn't have enough for everybody to eat, but not offering was just... rude.

Mercifully, he shook his head. "No, I'm good."

Calling back the pokemon who were still out, the trio headed for the mansion ahead, blissfully unaware that they were being watched from the long grass.

One of the merits of a brisk walk is that you get where you're going quite a lot faster. However, it does have its drawbacks, such as the fact it makes your calves burn like the fiery wrath of moltres. Because of this, when the group finally arrived at the pokemon center just outside the palace, their legs felt like lead.

"Serena..." Bonnie whined. "I don't wanna call Clemont... I just want to sleep."

The older girl couldn't say she disagreed. It may have only been 4:30 in the evening, but she'd worked up a massive sleep appetite. Still, she was sure Bonnie's guardian would like to know she was doing alright. "You don't have to talk for long... Just let him know you're okay." Maybe Serena could talk to Ash a little, too...

She yawned loudly. Or not. Quickly as possible, she typed in the number Clemont had given her. The phone rang, and rang, but nobody picked up.

Bonnie shrugged. "Let's try again tomorrow."

The teen nodded. At this point, all she wanted was a nice, hot bath.

A/N: As an interesting note, foxes make a wide variety of vocalizations, some of which sound like purring.


	7. Chapter 7

The biggest con of going to bed early is that you wake up early, too. Somehow, Serena felt robbed when she read 2:18 on her alarm clock, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't return to her sleep. Frustrated, she soon found herself playing games on her holocaster.

Nobody else was up. She'd checked. Twice. Even the "on-duty" nurse had conked out at her station. All of Serena's attempts to get back to sleep had failed dismally, though, thanks to all those years she spent getting up at the crack of dawn. So, the teen lay in her bed, furiously swiping at a screen, praying for time to magically skip forward an hour or two. It didn't.

In fact, if anything, it was passing at a merciless crawl. By 6 o'clock, she'd expected at least the nurses to be up. But by the time half-past 6 rolled around, she hadn't heard so much as a peep.

Slipping out from between her sheets, the girl went to wake Bonnie. She'd been asleep since yesterday evening, but showed no signs of waking. Softly, Serena called out to her. "Bonnie."

The child didn't so much as twitch.

"Bonnie." She repeated, louder this time. "Wake up."

Approaching the little girl, she shook her gently. "Come on, it's time for breakfast."

She didn't stir. Deciding she needed backup, she sent out Fen. The fox was fast asleep, despite her recent eviction. Groaning, she called her back inside. She'd never thought it would be so difficult to wake somebody up. If she was sleeping this soundly, she must need the rest.

After leaving, Serena went straight to the lobby. Nurse Joy was still asleep at the front desk. Like Bonnie, she didn't respond when the girl called out to her. Drawing closer, she tried shaking the woman. That didn't work, either. For a moment, she considered dumping a glass of water on her. The idea was quickly abandoned, though, because that was an awful thing to do to another person.

The entire pokemon centre was far too quiet for Serena's liking. There wasn't so much as a peep from the staff room, or the guest wing. In fact, the only thing the girl could hear was the faint whir of computer fans, and an occasional metallic click from the vents. While she knew she was overreacting, she decided to investigate the staff room.

Behind the desk was a large, rather unfriendly looking sign with the words "employees only" written in stiff, blocky letters. Perhaps actually entering would be a bad idea... the girl knocked instead. There was no answer. It was something of a trendsetter for the morning.

Systematically, she started going through all the rooms in the hospital, but it didn't seem like anyone was awake. She tried to justify it to herself. It was a vacation spot, no? Most people liked to sleep in on their holidays. But that didn't explain why the nurses weren't around. There were more than a few sick pokemon here.

Finally, she caught a break: a series of hearty thuds and thumps from down the hall. Not wanting to scare whoever it was, she calmly strolled towards the source of the noise. Or, as it turned out, whatever it was.

It was an odd-looking creature, that was for sure. While he was obviously a pokemon, Serena had never seen one like it: a vaguely humanoid creature, with an all-together too-toothy grin seemingly glued to his face. He seemed to notice she was coming, looking her up and down with ruby-red eyes.

The girl kept her distance after she realized it wasn't a person, instead opting to consult her pokedex.

"Banette, the marionette pokemon. It is a doll that became a Pokémon over its grudge from being junked. It seeks the child that disowned it." Her pokedex recited far too cheerfully.

Cautiously, he stepped forward, making gentle coos. As he drew closer, Serena started backpedaling. He didn't seem to have an owner... Was he dangerous?

The doll stopped, and cocked its head. "Nette. Bana. Ette." Reaching out a shadowy paw, he pointed at her briefly, before returning to a neutral pose.

Serena stared at the creature. He didn't seem like he was threatening her. "Do you have an owner?"

"Ette." The pokemon replied, nodding vigorously.

"Where are they?"

Beckoning with his paw, he turned on his heel and started marching down the corridor. He hadn't come from too far away, only a few doors down from where she'd met him. The ghost type hopped up, and pulled the door handle, opening the room up wide.

Inside, there was a younger boy sleeping peacefully in his bed. Banette pointed to him. "Ban."

"This is your owner?" She asked. "Why did you leave him?"

Scrambling atop the bed, the pokemon began stomping up and down beside his trainer. When he leapt off, the boy hadn't so much as twitched.

"He isn't waking up, either, huh?" She sighed. "I'm guessing you need something, right?"

Banette made a cheering gesture.

Thinking for a moment, the answer hit her like a herd of stampeding rhyhorn. "You haven't eaten, have you?"

"Babababan!"

It was only then that she realized there may be dozens of pokemon in the building that might be going hungry. "What about your trainer's other pokemon? Shouldn't we feed them as well?"

"Nette." He hopped off the bed and began pulling pokeballs from his owner's bag. After releasing a handful, she got the message. All of the pokemon were asleep, as well.

"So, why aren't _we_ asleep?" She wondered aloud to herself.

Banette rubbed his chin, and shrugged a moment later.

"There has to be a reason these people aren't waking up... Something they ate here, maybe? No, otherwise I'd be asleep, as well. Actually, that rules out most things... Unless I'm immune?" She shook her head. That was ridiculous. But was there really another explaination? "What do you think, Banette?"

He began to rub his belly.

"Of course."

Scrounging up something for the both of them from the kitchen, they ate their breakfast. Serena didn't know whether to be worried, confused, or both. In fact, why not both? Saying that this had been a strange morning was something of a massive understatement.

The girl was sure she would have spent all day mulling about in the kitchen if it weren't for one little thing: soft footfalls above her head. At first, she thought she'd been hearing things, but when Banette started tracking the sound with his eyes, she realized that there was indeed something lurking on the floors above. It was too light to be a human, and that was not a comforting thought.

"That's it, I'm calling the cops." Serena hissed softly, punching the local department number into her phone.

A disinterested woman answered. "Camphrier Town police, how can we help you?"

"Hello, I'm at the Parfum Palace pokemon centre... and there are some sort of strange things happening here. I was wondering if you could send someone out to investigate?"

"Can you describe the nature of the events, miss?"

"I have no idea why, but almost everyone in the building is unconscious... They aren't responding to anything!"

"Okay, miss, I'm going to need you to stay calm, and follow my instructions." There was a strange clacking sound drowning out the woman's voice for a moment or two. A phone in the lobby began to ring. "If you hear a phone ringing, don't answer it. You're calling from a mobile, right?"

Unwittingly, the girl nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, make sure you stay on the line. You have to get outside right away. Do not try to remove anyone else from the building, I've dispatched a team, they will be there in less than ten minutes."

Obediently, Serena picked up Banette and carried him towards the exit. She still had no idea why these things were happening, but it seemed like it wasn't safe to hang around and investigate. But as she opened the door, she suddenly felt that something was watching her.

Turning around, she saw... something on the balcony was slithering towards the stairs. Feeling precisely no desire whatsoever to find out what the aforementioned "something" was, Serena hurried through the door and away from any windows that thing could see through.

Raising the holocaster up to her ear, she quietly asked, "Ma'am, are you still there?"

"Uh-huh. Did you get outside okay?" The woman sounded a lot more invested now than when she had first picked up the phone.

"Yeah... but there's this... this thing in there. I'm worried it's going to hurt somebody."

"Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. The officers will be there any minute. Do you have anyone you can talk to right now?"

"No, just a Banette. He's not mine, though." She sighed. If only Fen was awake right now... that would be great.

"Do you have pokemon of your own?"

"Yeah, but they're asleep."

"Have you checked?" The woman pushed. "It's really hard to knock out a pokemon with insomnia. It's probably why that Banette's awake."

Serena bit her lip. "I don't have any pokemon like that."

"You're awake right now, aren't you? Do _you_ have insomnia as an ability?"

Grumbling, she called out every pokemon she had: Fen, Starman, Bubbles, Rolo, Espurr... wait, where was her espurr? "Espurr's gone!" The trainer screeched.

"Could he have been stolen?"

"I.. I don't think so... I'm a pretty light sleeper..." She thought for a moment. Even though she'd been exhausted when she arrived, she'd been pretty restless, ultimately only bagging four or five hours sleep. Someone might have been able to get past her in that time, but she usually woke at the slightest hint of human activity.

"If you still have the pokeball with you, he could have broken out on his own."

The girl jumped up, hearing sirens in the distance. "The officers are here!" Calling back her unconscious pokemon, she moved off of the driveway before they could get too close.

"Okay, I'm hanging up now. Goodbye!"

She was a bit horrified to see an ambulance heading the procession. Hopefully, that was just a part of the standard response. Men were hopping off the trucks before they could stop, wearing disconcertingly large gas masks, and charging straight into the pokemon centre. She hung back, doing her best to avoid getting in their way. While she couldn't deny her curiosity, there was nothing she could do to help. Trying to do so would just waste everybody else's time, and that wasn't something that she wanted to do during a potential emergency.

When the first-responders came out stripping themselves of their masks and yelling "all clear," she breathed a sigh of relief. At least it wasn't something in the air.

"Cupcake?" She offered Banette. There wasn't anything else for them to do, so why not eat all the confections she happened to have lying around?

"Ban-Ban-ette!" He happily munched away at his sweets,watching the emergency services scurrying about with rapt attention.

"Your owner is going to kill me if he finds out I gave you all this sugar."

The banette shrugged. Thinking about it, Serena realized it might not matter. He was a ghost type after all... Was he technically even alive? The pokedex had essentially called his entire species demonic sock-puppets, so that probably wasn't the most helpful.

So caught up was she in her internal debate that she missed a small pokemon slip through the throngs of firemen and out the door in front of her. If Banette hadn't jabbed her in the flank and ran after it, she may never have realized.

She could tell it was an espurr, and she couldn't help but wonder, was it hers? Using the recall function, she took aim and tried calling him back. In a flash of red, he disappeared back inside the capsule. That was convenient.

Banette came to a screeching halt, and gave her a baffled look. Showing him the pokeball in her hands, he dipped his head and trotted back to her.

"Excuse me," A deep-voiced man called from a few feet away. She turned to face him. "Are you the girl who called us here?"

"Yes?" Admittedly, she was scared of him. He was an older gentleman, with a perpetual scowl on his face, as if somebody had just told him the station had run out of doughnuts. Judging by the girth of his stomach, it would have been his fault, too.

"Did that espurr come from the pokemon centre?"

Serena nodded. He rolled his eyes. "Boys! It's those damned espurrs up to no good again!" His abrupt hollering made her flinch, and the succeeding collective groan was so loud that she had to cover her ears.

"Anyways, you managed to catch one 'a them, didn't you? Good on ya, they're a blight."

The girl smiled awkwardly. "Thanks?"

He chuckled, booming and loud, like his voice. "You know, you remind me of my daughter."

Serena's cheeks were hurting from her forced grin. "Oh really?"

"She's a li'l younger than you, though. Last I heard, she was headin' up here to train 'er pokemon with some friends."

"I see." Just as she was about to start praying for some way out of this conversation, she heard a slight click.

It seemed... familiar, somehow. Glancing down at her side, she figured out why: espurr had once again escaped from his confinement, and was tiptoeing away. However, the part that was most interesting to her was that this time, he had an accomplice: the second espurr.

They looked at each other, and then up at her, grinning nervously. In a flash, they were halfway down the road, gunning for freedom. Having already dealt with this once before, she calmly called her pokemon back.

"Not happening, Romeo." She smirked, returning him to her belt. However, there was still the matter of the other espurr. With either free, she doubted that their reign of terror, (or mild irritation, as was often the case) would continue.

While she had no idea if he'd listen to her, she called out for help. "Banette, use shadow ball!"

To her surprise, the pokemon complied. The fleeing espurr didn't see it until it was too late to dodge, and he tumbled to the ground. With nothing else to be done, Serena threw her fifth pokeball, catching him easily.

Banette picked the ball up and tossed it to her, and, for the first time, she realized she had no idea what to do. She already had an espurr, and surely no good would come of keeping such a volatile pair together. Then, something occurred to her.

Turning back to the old man, she asked, "You said your daughter is a trainer, right? How do you think she'd feel about a trade?"

As it turned out, Shauna, the man's daughter, had absolutely no interest in raising a "troublemaker" like that espurr. Honestly, Serena understood: the girl had spent almost eighteen hours in a coma because of him. Still, it set her back to square one.

Everyone in the hospital was awake now, courtesy of the liberal doses of awakenings used on them. Other than being fairly peckish, the people put to sleep by the espurr were perfectly fine. It was a huge relief to the girl; she had no idea how she'd have told Clemont if his sister had been hurt.

The kid was especially hyper today, having leapt out of bed seconds after waking up. She'd already called her brother, and the pair had been conversing for about an hour, now. It was pretty amazing to her that they had so much to talk about; they'd only been apart a day.

Serena had planned to talk to Ash as well, but she didn't want to break up the siblings. Oh, well. There was always tomorrow.

For now, she'd taped the pokeballs of both espurr shut, hoping to contain their mischief for as long as possible. Banette was still lurking around, however, keeping a watchful eye on their pokeballs.

Even the return of his owner didn't break his concentration: even when he was called back to his pokeball, he came right back out again.

The boy sighed. "Come on, Mar! We've got things to do."

Serena was a little surprised at how disobedient he was. He'd listened to her, and she barely knew him. Then, she had an idea.

"Hey, you!" She called. The boy looked around nervously. "Yes, you, the ginger boy. Want to trade pokemon?"

"W-w-what did you have in mind?" He asked, a little shakey.

"I caught a pair of espurr, but I don't want to have two of the same pokemon on my team... do you want one? They're pretty strong guys."

His eyes flicked downward for a moment, uncertain. "What do you want for one?"

"If the both of you are up for it, I'd happily take your Banette."

"You mean Mar? Are you serious?"

Maybe she'd misjudged their relationship. Still, she pushed.

"Yes."

A/N: Pokemon Go is a menace. I've walked more in the past week than in the entire year before that.


	8. Chapter 8

The boy's face was unreadable, almost entirely blank. It made Serena nervous. She'd always thought of herself as a good reader of people, but this one looked more like he was contemplating the purchase of a sweater than anything important.

Maybe she'd offended him? He was, perhaps, a touch stiff in his posture. But then, he wasn't exactly glaring at her. If she described it as anything, she'd say he was lost in thought.

After what seemed like ages, he finally spoke. "I'm sorry, but I won't trade him."

Disappointed, the girl nodded. "I understand." She could have pressed the issue. In fact, she wanted to: she'd taken a liking to that banette. But she didn't. Instead, she walked away. Maybe, one day, she could trade something for him.

Since Bonnie was still chatting away with her brother, Serena was all alone. Sighing, she flopped down on a lounge chair, disinterestedly watching some reality show on the television. Then, a pokeball on her belt popped open.

Just as she was about to start flailing wildly to make a grab for her pokeballs, she realized that the "escapee" was Fen. The fox hopped up onto her stomach, and leisurely curled into a ball.

Reaching down, Serena scratched her pokemon's ears. The creature squeaked contentedly and pushed its head against her hand. When had Fen learned to free herself, anyways? Not that it mattered...

"You two look comfortable." Calem remarked from behind her.

"To be fair, I don't think Fen's ever _not_ comfortable." The girl mused. For a fox, Fen was remarkably cat-like.

"He is when Bonnie's around." At the mention of her, the pokemon went rigid.

"Yeah, _she's_ not very fond of being held under her forelegs." Serena hoped her correction didn't seem too impertinent. Twisting her body, she faced the boy."Bonnie means well. She's just inexperienced."

Awkwardly, he ran a hand through his hair. "I know, I'm joking. My siblings do that all the time..."

"I didn't know you had siblings..."

He cringed slightly. "There's a small army of them, actually."

"Oh?" The girl was clearly amused. "Do tell."

` Sighing, he complied. "I have eleven siblings."

All of a sudden, Serena was glad she wasn't drinking anything. If she were, she would surely have spat it straight back out, cartoon style. "Seriously?!" Her voice must have risen an octave or two. She'd been expecting him to have four or five at most.

His hands were covering his ears, as if he'd expected that reaction. "Yep." He put his hands down and started rifling through his holocaster. After a moment or two, he found what he was looking for, and showed it to her. "See?"

He wasn't kidding. What he had shown her was a picture of him, a middle-aged couple, and what appeared to be a little league field hockey team. "Are your parents trying to break the world record?"

The boy snorted, trying to smother his laughter. "I hope not. I already share my room with two brothers."

"Well, that's miserable."

"Sounds about right. What about you? Do you have siblings?"

Serena waved dismissively. "Nah, my parents separated when I was little."

He rubbed his neck. "Oh... sorry."

"Don't be! I got two Christmases a year because of it."

"Really?!"

"Yes. And..." She jokingly stuck her tongue out at him. "I got my own room growing up."

Crossing his arms, he feigned offense. "At least I get presents from people other than my parents."

"At least I only have to buy presents _for_ my parents."

He shrugged. "You've got me there. But didn't you have to buy something for Bonnie?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"It's her birthday today, isn't it?"

The girl froze. "You're kidding." Looking over at the child, she noticed that a party hat and hefty slice of cake were sitting on the table beside her, both covered in happy birthday wishes. "Shit."

Serena turned back to Calem. "So, what do you buy kids for their birthdays, anyways?"

The boy sighed. Today was going to be a long day.

"What do you mean we can't by anything from here?" Serena was standing in the pokemon centre's shop, shaking a Parfum Palace snow-globe.

Calem shook his head. " _Everything_ is a souvenir."

"There has to be _something._ " She whined.

"Nope. Even the pokepuffs are labeled."

"Seriously?" Fen had dropped something at her feet: a cake with the palace logo stamped upon it. "I'm doomed." She groaned. There was no way the official gift shop wouldn't be just as supersaturated with this junk.

"Maybe you could take her on a palace tour?" He suggested.

"That's why she came up here, though. It wouldn't be much of a present."

"The regular one, or the season special?"

She perked up. "The special! Of course! That might just work!" It was much more costly than the regular tour, but it had a good few perks to it. "Add in a cute souvenir of her choice, and we've got a day she'll remember for years!"

"We've got to move fast, though, they don't take new admissions past 4."

Serena was already out of the shop, heading straight for Bonnie. Calem followed her. He'd never been to the palace before. Surely, you couldn't go wrong with memorable...

The little girl was thrilled. She'd been looking forward to the tour before, but things were on a completely different level, now. Her questions were endless, and if it weren't for Serena and her impressively arbitrary love of history, the guide would have almost certainly lost her voice the next day. As much as the visitors enjoyed learning, however, few were keen on hearing the unabridged history of political climates leading to the arranged marriage of Prince Louis the VIII to Blanche of Castille.

Eventually, things got so bad that an ultimatum was given: Bonnie could either shut up and stay with the tour group, or she could stay behind and risk missing the fireworks later. She chose the former, albeit sulkily. Serena promised to answer any questions the girl had that night, and the crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Although, the older girl realized, Bonnie would probably be too tired to stay up after all the walking they'd been doing this evening. That would be a blessing, though, considering just how long Serena had been awake at this point (nearly 16 hours, according to her admittedly-sleep-deprived brain.) Hopefully, insomnia wouldn't rear its ugly head again tonight.

By the time dinner rolled around, however, Bonnie was bursting with energy. She could barely sit still as she waited for her dinner. For an entire ten minutes, she'd begged the elder girl to let her play with Fen while they waited. That, coincidentally, was how she found out a pokemon could refuse to leave its pokeball.

After Bonnie's "dinner" of crème brulee and ice cream sundaes, she wasn't any better. It was predictable, considering the fact she must've eaten an entire Unovan cane sugar harvest. ("It's my birthday!" The child had argued when Serena suggested she eat literally anything else.) Certain that the girl was going to break something, the trio had gone outside so the kid could burn off her surplus energy before the fireworks display.

It worked, though. Too well, in fact, Serena realized as they settled into a nice patch on the rooftop to watch the fireworks display. Bonnie was already beginning to doze off, and it wasn't even dark enough for fireworks.

The first time she woke the girl, Serena had told her: "If you go to sleep now, you'll miss the display."

She yawned, and went right back to sleep, using the older girl as a pillow.

"I guess actions really do speak louder than words." Calem smiled a little. "Don't worry about it, fireworks always wake up kids."

"I'm not so sure. This one sleeps like the dead."

"Oh? You're an expert, now?" He teased.

Serena gently shoved him. "Quiet, you."

The view from the roof was absolutely stunning. The girl could see people, couples and families, scurrying around the maze, searching for somewhere to watch the fireworks. From this high up, they looked pretty small. For a while, she wondered if they could see her as well, but the sun crept further and further away, and eventually, all she could see were blurry silhouettes of the forest behind the mansion.

"Hey, Serena?" Calem called softly.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing after this?"

She yawned. "Sleeping."

While she couldn't really see him in the darkness, she felt him sigh. "I mean after that. What are you going to do after you leave the Parfum Palace?"

"Cyllage Gym. I'm getting behind on my training hanging out here."

"Yeah, I need to go there, too." He straightened up. "Want to travel together? Training pokemon is a lot easier with a partner."

Serena thought for a moment. That was true... but she really liked traveling with Ash. He was an experienced trainer, she could learn from him. On the other hand, she couldn't say hanging out with Calem was ever boring... "I'm not sure..." She finally answered. "I mean, I have to make sure Bonnie gets back to Clemont safely."

"Oh." The boy sounded sad. "Well, let me know if you change your mind."

She put her hand on his. "Will do."

They sat in silence after that, until the first firework launched. It was deafeningly loud, like a mortar shell had just gone off, and for a fraction of a second, it lit up the entire sky. It wasn't long before another one launched. And then another. Dozens of rockets lit up the sky.

Lightly, she shook Bonnie, not wanting her to miss the show. The girl didn't budge.

"She didn't wake up?" Calem asked, amazed. It was a first for him.

Serena yawned again. "Told you so. She's out for the count." She looked down at the sleeping child. "Lucky." The girl whispered to herself.

The fireworks weren't the only lights that night, though. The young trainer barely could pick out the crackling sound of pokemon emerging from their capsules to watch the show with them.

For the second time that day, Fen hopped on her lap. Fireworks were launching regularly now, almost with their own rhythm. It was beautiful, but Serena could feel her eyes growing heavier and heavier as the minutes passed. After all, it was late.

When Calem first felt a weight upon his shoulder, he was sure it was his Froakie. It wasn't uncommon for the frog to sit there. But soon, he realized, that this, whatever it was, was warm-blooded.

In the dim light of the fireworks, he could make out the soft features of Serena's face. Like Bonnie before her, she'd dozed off. He wasn't sure how he felt about being a pillow... but maybe, if she'd fallen asleep, she needed the rest?

Serena hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep. If she hadn't awoken to find herself lying against Calem, she might not have noticed at all.

Admittedly, the girl had no idea what to do in a situation like this. It was pretty much a guarantee that he'd noticed; she always had been a fidget. Was she supposed to sit up properly and apologize? Pretend nothing happened?

She glanced up at the boy. He didn't seem bothered... and he was surprisingly comfortable to lean on. Maybe, just this once, it would be okay to go back to sleep? Snuggling closer, Serena did just that.

The next time she woke up, the show had ended. Other than a lingering smell of smoke and ash, there was no sign left of the evening's festivities. Unless you wanted to count the fact that she'd spent several hours sleeping on the palace roof, that is. Glancing around, Serena had to wonder if their meals had been spiked: _everyone_ was asleep. This seemed familiar...

Checking her pokeballs, she was relieved to find both Espurr were still accounted for... and asleep. The same could be said for all her other pokemon. For once, there was no conspiracy. They were just tired. Cold, too, considering how they'd all huddled together in their sleep.

It was that, she thought, that had woken her up again. To be absolutely frigid in some places, and nice and toasty in others was an odd, and extremely unpleasant, feeling.

The moment she felt Calem stir, she knew the impromptu dog-pile nap was truly finished.

"Sorry..." He murmured blearily. They were both pretty out of it. "I guess I fell asleep, too."

She blushed, happy that it couldn't be seen in the darkness. He had noticed... "Yes, I think it's a little past bedtime."

Doing their best to not wake Bonnie, Serena called back her pokemon, and slipped onto the balcony below. After passing down the kid, Calem jumped down after them.

In silence, they staggered back to the guest's lodgings. It was far too late for conversation, save for the exchange of "good night" they shared as they went their separate ways.

With everyone safe and soundly in bed, Serena could finally sleep through the night. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, after all.

A/N: Speaking of sleeping...


	9. Chapter 9

"You're still at the Parfum Palace?" Ash sounded amazed. "That place must be huge!"

Serena stifled a giggle. She'd only spent two days here. It wasn't like she was too far behind schedule or anything. "I'm leaving after this call!" She said defensively.

He stuck out his tongue jestfully. "I'll have the Cyllage City gym badge before you can so much as see Camphrier town."

Scoffing, she replied: "You can dream. Where are you right now? Ambrette Town?"

"Maybe."

"The connecting cave?"

He turned away from the camera. "Not tellen.'"

"Wait..." No, it couldn't be... "Are you at the Battle Chateau?"

"Gotta go, bye!" Within a second, the call had been cut off.

Amused, Serena stood up, and stretched her legs. She could get there by noon with a bicycle! That being said, he almost certainly wouldn't be there by the time she showed up, so there was no point in hurrying herself. Getting to Cyllage before him though... that would be fun. Unlikely, though, unless he decided to go to Ambrette Town.

Ah, well. Ash _was_ a far more experienced trainer than her. It was only natural for him to get badges faster. Still, she could only dream of the look on his face if he walked into town just as she rolled out of the gym, cool as ice, badge in-hand. With a strawberry daiquiri, too, why not? This was her fantasy, after all.

"Bonnie, are you ready to go?" She called across the room.

The little girl was supposedly talking to her brother, but from where Serena was standing, it looked more like she was playing video games. She was furiously whaling on her keyboard, eyes never once leaving the screen. The kid hadn't heard her, it seemed.

Drawing closer, she called out to the girl once more. Again, she was ignored. This time, however, Serena realized why: ear-pods. She hadn't seen them before... maybe they were a birthday present? No wonder the kid seemed so engrossed in her game.

Reaching out, the teen tapped her on the shoulder. Startled, Bonnie jolted back, yanking out her earphones. "Oh, Hi Serena. Is it time to go?"

She nodded. "I was hoping we could get back to Camphrier Town by noon."

"I don't think so..."

"Sure we can, it's only..."

"10:30?" Bonnie lanced straight through her argument.

"Uh... yes." She grabbed the kid's hand. "We can still make it!"

"Oh no."

The girl barely had time to unplug her headset before Serena began to pull her towards the door. "W-wait! What about Calem?" She stalled.

That almost made Serena stop. Almost. "I'm sure he'll catch up." The trainer cheerfully retorted, continuing her mission.

Bonnie scowled. She didn't want to have to do a quick march all the way back to civilization. But considering the elder girl's vice grip on her wrist, she didn't have much choice. If she dug her heels in, she'd likely get dragged to all the way to town.

A small eternity later, they were back on Palais Lane. Today, Serena wasn't taking excuses, at one point carrying her companion rather than stopping for a break. If she were being truthful, the rookie would admit she was tired, too. Power walking for four miles straight whilst carrying 60 extra pounds of human was thirsty work.

Just as she was about to give up, it seemed hope trotted up beside her. In fact, that was exactly what had happened. Glancing to her side, she saw Calem riding atop a rather underwhelming beast. It was a skiddo, to be precise. Serena couldn't help but be reminded of those plastic cars they sold for toddlers to play in. It was hard to believe the goat could support his weight.

"Need a lift?" The boy asked, struggling desperately to look cool.

"I don't think there's room..."

"Sure there is!" He sounded oddly confident.

"What am I supposed to do? Sit on your lap?"

"If that's what you want..."

Serena shot him an icy glare, but he seemed immune to it. "Fine." Stalking up to him, she looked him dead in the eye. "Well? Are you going to help me up?"

His face was turning a lovely shade of pink, "S-seriously?"

"You _did_ offer."

"...I guess?" He scooted back as far as he could.

Taking his hand, Serena swung a leg over the pokemon, making sure to leave room for Bonnie in front. As she helped the little girl up, Calem asked, "Wait, shouldn't I be in front? You don't know how to ride..."

She looked at him dumbstruck for a second, before remembering she hadn't mentioned her rhyhorn racing days before. Snickering, she replied, "Don't worry, we'll be fine." Grabbing the horns, she yelled, "Hold on tight!" Then, she drove her heels into the skiddo's side.

The beast took off at a breakneck pace. He was certainly a hardy little creature, Serena hadn't expected him to go anywhere near this fast with three passengers. It must have been faster than Calem was expecting, too. The boy was clinging to her for dear life. An anaconda would envy his grip, she thought. If he held her any tighter, her ribs would crack.

On the other end of the spectrum, there was Bonnie. She was having the time of her life, cheering and hollering as Serena weaved around tourists and leapt over walls. In no time, they were careening down the home stretch into town.

"I told you we'd get here by noon!"

One quick lunch stop later, and they were back on the road. Calem absolutely refused to let Serena pilot the skiddo again, so they were moving at what he had called "a reasonable pace." Bonnie said it was boring. At least it was faster than walking.

"Hey, Serena, did you want to go to Ambrette town?" Calem asked out of the blue.

"Not really..." As far as she could tell, there wasn't really anything to do there. "Why do you ask?"

He grinned. "'Cause I know a shortcut to Cyllage."

Serena was dubious of his claim, but she couldn't just pass up a potential opportunity to beat Ash at something. "Let's check it out, then."

Her skepticism changed to straight-up irritation when she he led her into the Connecting Cave. "Isn't this the normal way to Cyllage City?" She asked flatly.

He shook his head. "You'll see."

As time trickled onwards, she failed to "see" anything. Anyways, all these zubat were making her crabby. There weren't enough repels in the world to keep them all at bay. Worse still, it was getting dark. Well, darker. They were in a cave, after all. In fact, when they did eventually reach an exit, she almost couldn't see it. Only the faint glimmer of distant stars gave it away as anything other than more cave.

She checked her holocaster. It was 8:23 by the time they escaped. Apparently, there was nothing short about that "shortcut." Or, at least, that's what she thought, until she realized they were standing mere feet away from Cyllage.

As if sensing her bewilderment, Calem turned to her. "We went through the mountain, not around." He explained.

"For a moment, I was worried that we'd still have to go through Ambrette Town."

Chuckling, he shook his head. "What? And have breathed all that musty old cave air for nothing?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

Cyllage City was more of a beach town, really. Save for the occasional tourist clad in khakis and a Hawaiian shirt, the streets were deserted. It was almost as sleepy as Vaniville was, despite the fact it was twice the size. Because of this, their walk to the pokemon centre was quiet, and entirely uneventful.

It was refreshing to be able to slip into bed that night, at a reasonable hour, and without anything even slightly bad happening that day. She was beginning to think it would never happen.

In the morning, the town hadn't changed a bit. When Serena sauntered back into the streets mid-morning, it was almost like a ghost town. Other than tourism, (and the gym, of course) she'd heard that most residents here were fishermen. It would certainly explain how quiet it was here.

Admittedly, the girl hadn't expected to get here so soon. She thought she'd have at least a few more days to train before tackling the gym. The leader here was a rock-type trainer, or so she'd been led to believe, and that made her nervous. Bubbles was the only pokemon she had with a type advantage, and she didn't want to entrust such a high-stakes battle to one of her espurr. Romeo ignored every word she said, and Lucky tried to run away roughly every time he was out of his pokeball. In short, they were brats.

For these reasons, plus a few more for good measure, she decided to let Calem challenge the gym first. He had both a water type and a grass type, so he had a clear advantage over Grant.

When she arrived at the gym, the battle was just starting. Calem's froakie was up against an onix. By no means was it a long fight: the rock snake was down for the count after a barrage of water guns. Serena was just beginning to think she wouldn't have to train all that much when the gym leader sent out his second pokemon.

It was a Lileep.

While she'd scarcely even heard of the species before, she soon learned it was a force to be reckoned with: with a single mega drain, it had evened the score.

Calem's skiddo didn't fair much better. After a few glancing blows of acid, the goat fainted, and the battle was lost.

It didn't take Serena long to realize that she had a lot of training to do if she wanted to take out that beast. She couldn't rely on her marill alone, but her other pokemon weren't exactly viable options at the moment, either. Most of them were weak to rock, after all. She might even have to catch a new pokemon.

Or trade. No one seemed to want to do that, though? Was it really such a bad thing? It wasn't like she was all that close to either espurr...

As they left the gym, Serena debated whether or not she should try to console Calem or not. He might find it patronizing... He looked a little upset right now, understandably so. More than anything though, he seemed lost in thought?

When she was frustrated, she preferred to be alone for a while. Otherwise, she was worried she might snap and take it out on somebody else. With that in mind, she decided to leave him alone for a while. At a fork in the road, she split off from him.

Or, at least she tried.

"You're going somewhere?" He asked.

Anxiously, she nodded. "I was going to train..."

"Alone?" The boy sounded surprised. "Be careful out there, those thieves are still at large."

Her fundamental lack of interest in current events came back to bite her yet again. "I will." She grinned uncertainly.

"Uh... you did know about them, right?"

"Of course!"

He gave her an incredulous look. "You know, the ones who stole my wallet? The pickpockets?"

"I've..." Serena groaned, and decided to be honest. "I've no idea what you're talking about. I thought that was just a prank?"

Shaking his head, he explained. "No, they've been selling trainer cards as fake ID's. It's getting to be a pretty widespread issue in cities with gyms."

"So, don't stand too close to strangers? Is that what you're saying?"

"More 'stay in a well-traveled area and don't go off road for any reason.'" He scratched an ear. "I've heard that they even hypnotized some people. You know, put them to sleep? Basically, what I'm saying is: stay safe. They'll leave you alone if other people can see you."

"Okay." She gave the boy a quick hug, before running off. "Thanks!"

Serena wasn't sure what kinds of pokemon lived in the wilds around Cyllage city, but there had to be something that could stand up to that lileep, right? Mentally, she started reviewing possible weaknesses. It was definitely part rock type, but she wasn't sure if the other part was poison or grass. A rock type was weak to a lot of things... fighting, for one... but the grass type was problematic. She wasn't really sure what weaknesses would carry over. Maybe she should just go for something that was "effective," and not "super effective."

Rock types had high physical defense, so the best counter, she thought, would be a high special attack. An electric type would be good for that, although she'd be toast if Grant sent out anything with ground-type moves... this was getting complicated.

For now, all she had to do was train. And should anything helpful show up, well, she still had a 6th slot in her party open.

Since most trainers were more than willing to fight her, she was happy to say that she got quite a lot done. Hopefully, one of her pokemon would evolve soon. That would be helpful, right?

Almost as helpful, she thought, as that adorable little dog pokemon she kept seeing following her around. He didn't know that she knew, but she did. She'd never seen a creature of his species before, perhaps he was a ground-type? Besides being cute, there wasn't exactly much to indicate what he might be.

So when she sent out Starman to battle him, she had no idea what she was getting in to.

A/N: I caught a pinsir the other day... he was a whopping 28 cp. Watch out gyms, here I come.


	10. Chapter 10

Starman growled menacingly at his opponent, tail lashing furiously. It had been a while since he'd had a real fight.

The little pokemon he was challenging sat across from him, watching every move he made with intense curiosity. It didn't seem worried, but then, only its head was poking out from the tall grass. Retreat would be easy for him, especially since Serena had no intentions of going off-road alone.

Moving slowly so as not to spook him, the girl scanned him with her pokedex. "Eevee, the evolution pokemon. Thanks to its unstable genetic makeup, this special Pokémon conceals many different possible evolutions."

She'd heard of these guys! Weren't they supposed to be rare?

Eevee's gaze flicked back to her, and she could have sworn he smiled at her. Twitching his ears, he hopped out of the undergrowth, and casually sauntered closer to her until he was nose-to-nose with Starman. The raccoon refused to back off. Raising his hackles, he hissed venomously, showing off rows of glistening fangs.

Still, the stray wasn't intimidated. If anything, it encouraged him. He was barely a foot away from her pokemon, and Serena had no idea what to do. Wild pokemon were seldom this bold... what if he had an owner? She couldn't imagine it would go over well if she attacked him unprovoked. What would she say, anyways? 'Oh, I'm sorry sir. I thought your ridiculously sociable eevee was a wild animal that I could capture. I hope you have enough trainer's insurance to cover his medical bills!'

It wasn't like he was doing anything harmful. So far, he was sitting there, looking smug. Starman was pissed, but then, he was _always_ pissed.

In fact, his behavior had been so benign, it took the girl a moment or two to process what happened next. One second, her zigzagoon was standing tall, ready for battle. The next, he was gone.

Well, perhaps not gone. Rather, he was pinned, crushed, even, beneath the eevee. No matter how innocent he may have looked, it quickly became clear that the pokemon was quite devious. She wouldn't have expected a sneak attack like that from a dark type!

The sudden blow had knocked Starman out cold, and since eevee was blocking her attempts to call him back, she decided to send out another pokemon to battle him.

He was mocking her, she could tell from the stupid way he twitched his ears! Snatching a pokemon off her belt, she called out Fen. This time, she didn't wait for eevee to make the first move."Fen! Flame charge!"

Eevee took one look at the rapidly-approaching ball of flame, and beat a hasty retreat into the woods. Having no intentions of causing a forest fire, Fen screeched to a halt. Then, she looked to her trainer, awaiting instructions.

"It's okay, girl, come on back." The fox barked, and trotted back to her.

Starman was beginning to stir now, groggily shaking his head. Even though he'd been knocked out, he was back on his feet within a couple of seconds. Save for a small bump on his head, he was completely back to normal, albeit a little more angry than usual.

Just to make sure he was okay, Serena rifled through her bag for a potion. She was hoping to get a bit more training done today, and it would be better if she didn't have to go back to the pokemon centre already. If anything, her zigzagoon just wanted to get a move on already. He even lightly snapped at her when she tried to apply the poultice to him.

With it half rubbed into his fur, he'd had enough, and charged a ways down the path, far out of reach.

"Okay, fine!" She called, "See? I'm putting away the potion."

The raccoon watched her do it, and then nodded approvingly. He ran most of the way back to her, excitedly barking and skipping in circles. She called him back, and was about to do the same for Fen, when the little fox smacked her pokeball out of Serena's hand.

She whined a little, giving her best puppy-dog eyes. And, since she was a dog of sorts, they were very persuasive.

Crouching down in front of her, she asked: "You don't want to go back?"

Fen nodded sharply.

Sighing deeply, Serena began to rub at her temples. "Well, I suppose it's alright for now..."

With an excited bark, the pokemon launched itself onto her shoulder. Ash and his pikachu must have been a bad influence. Having her starter draped over her trapezoid was an odd feeling, but the girl couldn't say she disliked it. Although, she would admit she was a bit scared that the fox might dig her claws in. That would hurt.

Keeping that in mind, Serena began to walk again. She moved at a slower pace than before, but she was more than content to keep an eye on the scenery. Coastal Kalos was a beautiful place, after all. Besides, it would be easier to spot wild pokemon this way, wouldn't it? More pokemon, more battles. More battles, more experience.

Still, what she really wanted was a good trainer battle. Wild pokemon weren't really known for their strategic prowess, after all. What was that saying? Mind over matter?

When she saw another trainer in the distance, though, she leapt at the opportunity for a good scrap. Supporting Fen with one hand, she sprinted towards her.

However, she almost stopped when she realized what the woman was doing. She was battling something -although Serena couldn't see what- and wasn't really paying attention to anything else. While Serena was only a few yards away, she hadn't noticed her, and the girl didn't want to startle her.

Suddenly, the woman whipped out a pokeball and lobbed it into the tall grass. Seconds later, she went in after it.

Serena decided to wait for her to come back. With any luck, the other girl would see her after leaving the bush, and, per league rules, challenge her to a pokemon battle.

She wasn't waiting for long. Not a minute later, the woman came stomping out of the bush, looking thoroughly disappointed, and instantly, she noticed the other trainer.

In the span of two seconds, her mood did a complete one-eighty. "Another trainer? We're going to have to battle, then." Grabbing a ball off of her belt, she prepared to send out her first pokemon.

"Well, Fen, you heard the lady!" Her starter leapt off her shoulder, and into the ring.

The fox was quickly acquainted with her opponent: a strange, floating creature sealed tightly in green slime.

Her pokemon glanced back at her for a moment, obviously as unnerved as she was. A (hopefully) encouraging smile later, and Fen turned back to her match.

Just in time, too. "Duosion!" The woman called. "Psyshock!"

Hurtling to the right, Fen dodged the attack by a hair.

"Use ember!"

The fox darted underneath the psychic-type, launching fire into its underbelly. It never hit, bouncing harmlessly off of duosion's protect. Irked, Fen struck out with her claws, tearing through the delicate cytoplasm.

The mitosis pokemon shrieked, quickly pulling away. With some distance gained, it struck out with a second psyshock.

"Counter with flame charge!"

As their attacks connected, both pokemon were sent flying back, once again leaving them on opposite ends of the field. Duosion was faster on the recovery, hitting the fennekin hard with confusion. Then, as she was reeling from that, the psychic used rollout. With every hit, Fen's condition dropped hugely. But, Serena wasn't about to give up, and neither was her pokemon.

Steadying herself, the fox bathed her opponent in white-hot flames. Awkwardly, the other pokemon flopped out of the air, gracelessly crashing into the ground. Fen had no plans of letting it recover.

She slammed into duosion with a powerful flame charge, scratching and biting the whole time. Beneath her, the cell-like creature flailed helplessly.

Suddenly, the woman began to shout."I yeild!"

Immediately, Fen backed off, allowing the duosion to flee. Its trainer met it half way, whispering comforting words to the battered creature.

Serena did much the same. "You did great." She told Fen, as she treated her wounds. "Good match!" She called over to her rival.

The woman nodded. "Your fennekin is pretty tough."

"Thanks!"

"Are you going to challenge the gym with her?"

"Cyllage gym?" Chuckling, she shook her head. "I'm not that brave."

"No bravery required. That lileep is a brat, and fire works pretty well against him."

Serena cocked her head. "Really?"

"Yeah. My braixen took him down, no problem."

"Braixen, huh?" The girl looked down at her starter. She wasn't sure how Fen would fare like this, but maybe, if she evolved...

"You don't know them?" She sounded surprised. "It's fennekin's first evolution."

"No, I've heard of them." The fox looked up at her oddly. It wasn't what she'd call a happy look. In fact, Serena would be hard-pressed to describe it. "I've never seen one in person, that's all."

"I'm not surprised. Since mine evolved, he's been pretty camera shy."

"Why's that?"

She shrugged. "I can't speak for all of them, but mine hates how effeminate he looks right now. I'm trying to evolve him again as quickly as possible."

Curious, Serena looked up braixen on her holocaster. "Yeah, I can see how that could be awkward for a guy." Scratching Fen's ears, she laughed. "I guess you don't have to worry about that, though, do you Fen?" The fox whimpered.

"Oh, that's a female? Lucky!" The woman ran her fingers through her hair. "I bet she'd be great for cute contests. My boy absolutely refuses to do anything but tough." She sighed. "It's a nightmare! Cute psychic monsters are so rare!"

Suddenly, Serena had an idea. "What are your thoughts on espurr?"

"You mean the purple cat-things?" She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess they're kind of cute. They kind of look scared, though."

"Would you like one?"

"I mean, sure, but I've never seen one in real life."

Serena, on the other hand, had seen far too many since starting her journey. "If you want, I can trade you one." She didn't mention the fact she had a spare.

"That would be great!" Suddenly, the woman looked crestfallen. "But I don't have anything to trade for it." Stroking her chin, she piped up: "How about this- are you staying at the pokemon centre in Cyllage?"

"Yes...?" She was weary about giving details to a stranger, even if it was something obvious like that.

"Me too. Why don't I catch something out here, and then trade it for espurr?"

So long as it wasn't a pidgey, that sounded fine. "Sure thing. See you around!"

"Wait... what's your name?"

The girl looked back at her. "Serena."

"It was nice meeting you, Serena." She offered her hand. "I'm Emily."

Shaking her hand, she replied. "Nice to meet you, too."

Then, they went their separate ways. They had work to do, after all. Maybe Serena would be able to find that eevee from earlier. Maybe one of her pokemon would evolve. She'd feel much more confident if that happened, actually. People were always telling her that basic pokemon were weak, but all her pokemon were like that! It was playing merry hell with her confidence.

It was then she decided something. She didn't care how long it took, she wasn't going to challenge that gym until one of her pokemon evolved.

A/N: I am so sorry I was unable to upload this last week! My account was hit by a bug that prevented me from using the doc manager. It seems like it was fixed, so updates should continue as normal for now. If this happens again, check Ao3's (Archive of Our Own) pokemon section for story updates. A friend of mine just got an account there, and said they'd upload it should there be another incident.


	11. Chapter 11

Serena wiped the sweat from her brow. There wasn't a whole lot of shade to be found, and the sun was beating down mercilessly upon her. It was at the point it was beginning to interfere with her training. She was almost out of drinking water, and soon, she would have to run back to the pokemon centre for more supplies.

None of that was putting a damper on Fen's spirits though. She'd perched on her trainer's shoulders to enjoy the fresh air, and refused to let _anything_ interfere with her pseudo-vacation. Not even battling. Odd, in Serena's opinion, she'd always seemed to enjoy that. At least some of her other pokemon were getting a chance to shine.

Bubbles had swept in a lot of her matches, although that was probably due to the fact most of the animals around here were fighting-types. Starman, and oddly enough, Rolo, hadn't been anywhere near as successful. The little combee hadn't been able to take a single hit without being knocked out. She understood why her zigzagoon would have trouble, but a flying type? She hoped he'd evolve soon. Maybe then he'd be a decent battler.

She sighed. Was she being too hard on him? Most bug-types weren't exactly known for their combat prowess, at least, not at first. She supposed she could leave him at a daycare. Some gentle training might help him build up some stamina

Or was that being lazy?

Frustrated, she stomped down the trail, searching for another battle. She felt certain victory was at hand: with all the experience her pokemon had gained, someone had to evolve soon. All they needed was one last good fight. And what should come sauntering out of the bushes but that?

It was another eevee, or so she thought, and it seemed like he wanted a fight. Having no intention of wasting an opportunity like this, she sent out Starman.

The fight was quick. Before she could even open her mouth to give an order, her zigzagoon had tackled eevee to the ground. No matter how much it struggled, it couldn't seem to knock Starman off. All the while, the raccoon was biting and scratching.

By the time eevee finally managed to strike back, he was bleeding. Zigzagoon leapt away, cradling his paw. The wild pokemon lashed his tail back and forth, clearly livid. He tried to approach Serena, but every time, Starman blocked his path.

With a growl, the fox pokemon charged, preparing to strike with an iron tail. Zigzagoon met him head on, knocking him off balance.

Hissing, eevee hit the ground. Not that he was there for long; the moment he got to his feet, he was charging back into the undergrowth.

Starman stood proudly, practically glowing. In fact, you could say literally glowing. His fur was quickly lightening, becoming blinding white in a matter of seconds. It was so intense, Serena had to close her eyes. And when she opened them, she realized things weren't ever going to be the same again.

Her zigzagoon wasn't there anymore, at least, not in a form she recognized. He had evolved, literally. Taking out her holocaster, she scanned Starman.

"Linoone, the rushing pokemon, and the evolved form of Zigzagoon. When it spots its prey, it runs after it in a straight line. Though able to run over sixty miles per hour, it is unable to turn."

Kneeling down, she scratched her newly-evolved pokemons ears, a grin spreading across her face. "Congratulations, Starman."

He barked excitedly, waving his now-lengthy tail back and forth. Jumping into her arms, Serena was amazed by how fluffy he'd become. In his last form, his fur had been a little prickly. Now, it was like he was trying to compete with Fen.

Unlike her fennekin, however, Starman had become rather hefty, so she couldn't hold him for long. Trilling, the raccoon hopped off of her lap, as if to say, "Let's go!"

Calling him back, she continued her training regimen. While technically she had met her evolution quota, she still didn't feel anywhere near ready to battle Grant.

For a while, she hunted the eevee. It annoyed her that he'd ran, and worried her that he was out here alone and hurt. She'd done this to him, surely it was her responsibility to at least give him a potion? Still, she wasn't a bloodhound. She saw no signs of him after a few feet off of the trail.

With little that she could do, she went in search of other trainers once more. They were, by far, the fights she learnt the most from. It didn't matter if she beat them or not, but every trainer gave her more and more insight on battles and strategy. Sometimes, however, rarely, they gave her insight into her own pokemon. Serena was really hoping that would happen with her next fight.

"Come on Fen!" The trainer hissed softly. "What's wrong with you?"

The fox had latched onto her shoulder, obstinately refusing to lift a single claw to fight. Any attempt to pick her up or pull her off was met with a sharp nip to Serena's ear. It was bleeding by now, she was sure of it.

It was only a hawlucha, but Fen wouldn't go near it. Since the fox hadn't battled anything in hours, Serena had been insistent. A little too insistent. And her ear had suffered for it. Words couldn't express just how grateful she was that there wasn't another trainer nearby witnessing this... tantrum. The pitying gaze of a wild pokemon was bad enough.

What was even happening? Fen had always obeyed her in the past... was she sick today? Glancing at the pokemon, Serena couldn't see any obvious signs of trouble. Maybe it was something she ate? But then, it was the same stuff the rest of her pokemon ate, and none of them developed a random vendetta against her ears.

It was earlier than she'd wanted, but the trainer decided to return to the pokemon centre. With all the experience she had with pokemon, Nurse Joy must have some idea what was happening.

When she wasn't trying to get her into the ring, Fen went back to her normal self. Serena could understand not wanting to battle, but wasn't this a little extreme?

Walking back into the pokemon centre, she thankfully noted that there was no line to see the doctor. Cyllage city was surprisingly quiet, especially when you considered the fact there was a gym barely a block or two away.

Serena approached the front desk. The nurse there forced a large, cheesy grin and asked. "Hello, how can I help you?"

The girl bit her lip. She wasn't quite sure what to say. It wasn't like Fen showed any signs of disobedience before today. "I think my Fennekin is sick." She said uncertainly. "She usually loves fighting, but today... well, she hasn't left my shoulder."

"Anything else?"

"Well... she's been a little aggressive today." Serena pulled her hair back, revealing her chewed up ear. "She really wanted to stay on my shoulder."

The woman glanced warily at Fen. "Could you pass her to me?"

Apprehensively, Serena reached up, and put her hand under the pokemon. She didn't seem to mind... so she picked up her up and put her on the counter.

"There's a first-aid kit in the bathroom, if you want to use it. In the mean time, we'll take a look at your pokemon."

"Thank you." Serena dipped her head. She hoped that it wasn't anything serious.

As it turned out, her ear wasn't all that battered. A little hydrogen peroxide, and she was back to normal. Now all she had to do was wait.

She'd tried to check on Fen, but had been turned away by the nurses. That had made her quite worried, no matter how much the nurse had said not to. Apparently,there were rules here, and one of them was no trainers in the clinic. Something about there not being enough space back there.

They'd said Fen was fine, though, so there was that. Instead, she'd wandered into the common room, and struck up a conversation with anybody who'd respond. Calem and Bonnie were nowhere to be found, so she didn't actually know anybody here. From varying conversations, she'd found out that Bonnie had gone to visit the gym leader. No one had seen Calem for a while, but it seemed like he'd gone out to train.

And so, she waited. Somehow, it would feel... wrong to train without Fen. The nurses assured her that she was fine, but she'd been back there for a while now, maybe an hour? Serena was beginning to suspect there was some kind of pokemon smuggling ring back there...

Thankfully, her concern was quickly assuaged when a nurse brought back her pokemon. "We ran a few tests..." She remarked, "But we couldn't find anything wrong with her."

The girl sighed slightly. "Do you have any idea why she'd suddenly stop wanting to battle, then?"

For a moment, she thought. "Well, there were a few suggestions thrown about..."

A/N: Had some personal buisness, so I'm a little late... Did you know hydrogen peroxide isn't an effective disinfectant?


	12. Chapter 12

"So, what were they?" Serena asked, giving the nurse her unwavering attention. If there was something making Fen uncomfortable, she wanted to know about it.

"It's possible that she has 'the yips.' Has she lost a battle recently?"

The girl shook her head. "No, she's been doing pretty well."

"Maybe it's anxiety, then? Our gym does have a type advantage."

"So, do you think it'd clear up if I didn't use her for that fight?" Worriedly, she glanced down at Fen. It would really slow her down if she couldn't use her to battle anymore. She was taking long enough to travel already.

As the nurse tried to speak, Fen growled, shaking her head.

"What's wrong, girl?" Her trainer asked. "Are you saying that you won't fight anymore even if I don't use you at the gym?"

The fox nodded sharply.

"Why not?" Serena tried not to sound too indignant.

"Fen! Fen Fennekin!"

Whatever that meant, the girl was sure she wouldn't like it. Questioningly, she looked over at the nurse.

Shrugging, the nurse remained silent. Way to help out!

"Was there anything else?" Serena probed. The only way she could get answers from the horse's mouth was if she asked yes or no questions.

"Well, there was another suggestion..." The nurse winced, as if she was uncomfortable even suggesting it. "Sometimes, pokemon will do... things to avoid evolving..."

Fen yipped happily, wagging her tail. "Huh? Fen... don't you want to get stronger?"

"It's not that." The nurse cut in. "Some pokemon just like how they are now, and don't want to change. I think it's understandable. Evolution is a big change, especially for a Fennekin."

"Is there anything I can do to help her?"

"You could give her an everstone. They're a bit pricey, but it'll stop her from evolving."

It was all a little strange to Serena. She'd always thought of evolution as being like growing up, that no matter what a pokemon wanted, inevitably, they would change. And even if a pokemon wanted to stay in a basic form, they would accept their new form eventually. But Fen clearly didn't even want to try her next stage. If that was what she wished, it wasn't Serena's place to force her. "How long does one work for?" She asked.

"As long as she holds it."

Serena dipped her head. "Alright. Where can I get one?"

Fifteen minutes later, Fen was happily munching on her new everstone while her trainer browsed collars. 'A bit pricey,' the nurse had said. That damned rock had left her with barely a penny to her name. She'd had to call her mother for money to eat. Her face was still tinged with red from the embarrassment! And the blasted thing hadn't even come with a carry case. She was sure her fennekin was laughing at her right now.

Since this was also going to be cutting into her food budget, she wanted something cheap. But most of these things must have been diamond-studded, judging by their prices. The only reasonably-priced thing she found in the entire boutique were ribbons. She wasn't convinced that they were going to be much help; one hint of a fight and they'd go up in (hopefully metaphorical) flames, but despite that, she took a length of red ribbon to the counter.

Even that was pricier than she wanted, but still, she called her Fennekin over, and loosely fastened it around her neck. Taking the everstone from the pokemon, she slipped it into a small pouch she'd made at the front of the tie. Hopefully, it would hold in battle.

As she made her way back to the pokemon centre, she saw Bonnie and Calem doing the same. It must have been later than she'd thought.

When she heard footsteps behind her, she simply assumed it was another trainer doing the same. Little did she realize, the thing behind her was no trainer! At the last moment, she turned, and witnessed a brown ball of fluff hurtling right at her head! Swinging to the side, she barely managed to dodge the incoming missile. It landed a half-dozen feet in front of where she was standing, and instantly spun around to face her. It was another eevee! These things must hate her.

Then, she realized something. This wasn't 'another' eevee, this was the same eevee Starman had beaten earlier. She could tell by the fresh tear in his ear.

"What do you want?" Serena hissed softly.

She didn't expect a response, nor did she get one: the eevee growled, and leapt again. This time, he was going for her belt. Once more, she sidestepped.

"Leave me alone!"

That seemed to make him even angrier. Fangs flashing, he attacked for the third time.

This time, however, Fen had had enough. Not even bothering to hop off her trainer's shoulders, the pokemon breathed scorching embers in front of the charging eevee.

Flames licked the fur collar around its neck, catching a little. Panicked, the little pokemon fled.

Serena scratched her pokemon's chin. "Good girl." Not wanting to wait and see if that eevee was coming back, she turned on her heel, and quickly walked back to the pokemon centre.

It was quiet 'back at base' tonight, as per usual. Surprisingly, at least to Serena, was the lack of trainers. There were... six, maybe? Including herself and Calem, of course. Not a single new challenger had arrived. Thinking about it, that was a little bit of a relief. If there were so few challengers, she might have a shot at winning the Kalos league in a year or so.

After a quick dinner, she decided to call Ash. They hadn't spoken in a while, and she wanted to know how long she was going to have to stay in Cyllage to look after Bonnie. It was a nice place, but she wanted to beat the gym and move on as soon as she could.

He didn't answer the phone. A little irritating, but understandable for a pokemon trainer. Hopefully, he'd call her back. If not... maybe she'd just keep moving? He might be ahead of her, now.

Serena had every intention of going to bed early and being well rested for challenging the gym tomorrow. She'd taken care to comb all the tangles out of her hair, fluffed all her pillows, set her thermostat to just the right temperature, placed a glass of water on her nightstand, and had just laid down to sleep when her door flung open.

It was Bonnie. She was breathing heavily, like she'd been running for miles. Her face was red and sweaty, and her clothes looked almost as haggard as she was. "We're under attack!" The little girl shrieked.

Serena chose to ignore her. Rolling onto her flank, she snuggled deeply into her blankets, praying the little girl would think she was asleep and take her games elsewhere.

No such luck, as it happened. "This is serious!" She shouted, shaking the teen furiously.

"I wanna sleeeep..." Serena murmured, clutching her blankets tightly.

Suddenly, her sheets were soaked through. The little brat had dumped water on her! "Get up!"

Rising like Dracula from his coffin, Serena glared at the little girl.

This had better be good.

Walking out into the common area, the teen looked around. A nurse was sitting at her post, checking in new pokemon. Guests were casually lounging, eating, watching tv, whatever took their fancy. Nobody looked worried in the slightest. In other words, everything seemed to be in order. Serena was seriously unimpressed.

Quietly, the little girl took her hand. "This way." She said softly, pulling her towards the staff room.

Opening the door, Serena was met by truly the most horrific of sights... more normalcy! A nurse looked up at her quizzically for a moment, but soon returned to her work after she spied Bonnie. The others ignored her presence completely.

"In here, I swear!" The little girl yanked her harshly through the room, towards the pokemon transfer room. Internally, Serena was screaming.

After another abrupt entrance from Bonnie, to the surprise of no one, there was nothing even slightly off about the 'final' room.

"Bonnie..." She half-growled, struggling to keep her temper in check. "There's nothing here." Serena was far from amused. This had been one of the worst nights of her journey. She'd been doused with water, paraded throughout the centre in her pyjamas, nearly had her arm ripped off by an overly-imaginative little girl.

Bonnie seemed shocked by her response. "Yes, there is!" She scrambled across the room. "Look! Look at these... these things!" Pointing at computers and a bunch of other miscellaneous objects, she flailed in what Serena could only describe as some type of interpretive dance.

The elder girl felt like she was about to have an aneurysm. "They're pokemon transfer machines." She said flatly.

"They're taking pokemon! And sending them to their evil headquarters!"

"No, they aren't!" Serena felt like she was going to lose it. "They're for wiring pokemon to storage centres. A trainer can get them back whenever they want."

"Exactly! They store them at their..."

"Bonnie!" She snapped. "You broke my door down, poured water on me, and have spent the last half hour dragging me around the pokemon centre. And why? Because you have some hair-brained conspiracy theory about what happens to boxed pokemon that can be disproved with a ten minute walk!"

"But i-"

"I don't care! I'm going to bed." Fuming, she spun around and marched out of the room. She _had planned_ to challenge the gym tomorrow. Now, she had to clean up Bonnie's mess.

Sighing, she tried to ignore the looks the nurses were giving her. She knew she shouldn't have yelled at Bonnie, but... well, she was awful with kids! She shouldn't have agreed to watch her in the first place...

While her only pair of pyjamas dried, Serena went to relax in the common room. She'd put on the same clothes she'd been wearing earlier, hoping that nobody would notice. No matter how much she'd wanted to go to bed, she couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in her street clothes.

Flopping on a couch, Serena began to fiddle with her holocaster. She didn't expect to be approached straight away.

Someone tapped on her shoulder. "Excuse me, you're Serena, aren't you?"

She looked up. It was the duosion trainer from earlier. "Oh, hey. Was it... Erika?"

"Close. Emily." She smiled sweetly. "I don't suppose you're still up for that trade are you?"

"You found something?"

She nodded. "I actually found him right outside."

"Okay then, let's do this." Hopping to her feet, she strolled over to the trading machine, and placed a pokeball on the trading rack.

"Don't you want to know what it is first?" Emily looked at her strangely, "It could be a caterpie..."

Serena laughed, "Personally, I like surprises."

She shrugged. "Alright, then."

With that, she placed a great ball on her side of the rack, and set the trade in motion. Neither girl were particularly sure of the specifics of how the machine worked, but the short of it was that it scoop a pokemon out of the ball and swap it with the other. All the while, it made loud and obnoxious sounds, like it was a toddler's plaything.

After a minute, it powered down, and Serena picked up her new pokemon. Fen watched, fascinated, as she called out her latest acquisition. Suddenly, Serena didn't feel so fond of surprises.

It was the eevee with the torn ear.

 **A/N: I don't know when I'm going to update next**. I've had a lot of issues lately, both technical and personal, so this story is going to be on hiatus for a while. Sorry.


End file.
